


Four Non-Blondes

by saberwitch



Category: BloodRayne (Video Games), Hellboy - All Media Types, Red Sonja (Comics), Tomb Raider (Video Games), Vampirella (Comics)
Genre: Blood Drinking, F/F, Fluff, Nazis, Vampires, there may be smut later idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2019-09-29 03:41:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17195837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saberwitch/pseuds/saberwitch
Summary: Rayne, Ella, and Lara try to figure out what to do with a red-haired barbarian they found in a Nazi occult lab.





	1. Tank Girl

"Remarkable. Where did you say you found her?"

Lady Croft turned her curious gaze to Rayne. Her eyes were dark brown, and her hair was pulled back in a serviceable ponytail. She didn't dress much like landed gentry, and although her accent was all class, her attitude was very down to earth. 

"The GegenGeist Gruppe had her in a tank," Rayne said. 

"Nazis," Croft said, her lip curling in distaste. Rayne liked her already. 

"I am at a loss," the other woman in the room said in a low voice, and both Rayne and Lady Croft turned to her like their heads were on swivels. 

Ella had that effect on the Earth-born. 

"She is…alien," the dark haired woman said, "and yet not. She is of this world…and yet not. I do not understand it."

Croft glanced at Rayne and then back to the elegant woman. 

"The Thule Society has dabbled in many things not of this world," she said. "And they invested heavily in those dabblings. It seems strange that they would leave something...someONE…behind."

"I didn't leave them much of a choice," Rayne said, hating how coarse she sounded.

"I've often said the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi," Croft said, grinning at her. Rayne flushed.

"That cult festers like a cancer," the dark woman hissed, and Rayne shivered. It was easy to forget sometimes that Ella was not at all human, but at times like this, when her eyes grew black and her voice sounded like the tolling of a funeral bell, it was impossible.

"On that we are agreed," Croft said in a brisk voice. If she was the slightest bit perturbed by Ella's abrupt change, she didn't show it. Ella smoothed herself down like a predatory bird settling in to devour its kill as Croft went on.

"I can't tell much just from looking at her, aside from the obvious. She's quite scarred, and by blades, but the scars are all preternaturally healed. Any chance we could wake her up for a chat?"

"I'm not certain that's wise," Ella murmured. "She is physically restrained, but without knowing who or what exactly she is or what she's capable of…"

"The tank you found her in," Croft said, flashing a quick smile to Rayne, "was there anything about it that might have given a clue?"

Rayne cleared her throat. 

"It…wasn't unusual that I could see," she said slowly, glancing over at Ella, who gave her a nod of approval.

"Relatively speaking, I assume," Croft said with another smile. Rayne's legs felt like they were turning to jelly. 

"Yes," she blurted. "I've seen similar tanks in Thule labs. They're stasis chambers. Usually filled with perfluorocarbons. They keep their experiments in them."

Croft frowned down at the woman strapped to the gurney and lashed into place with steel cables. 

"Do you think she was experimented on?" 

It took a moment for Rayne to realize the Englishwoman was talking to her. She glanced at Ella again, but her attention was also on the restrained woman. 

"No," Rayne finally said. "The scars don't look fresh, even with the accelerated healing."

"That's what I thought as well," Croft said with satisfaction, and Rayne tingled at the implied compliment. 

It was nice not to be treated like a sidekick for once.

Ella was probably Rayne's favorite boss, but she had a tendency to treat Rayne like a wayward child. It was sort of understandable; Ella was as old as Eve herself. Rumors had it that she was Lilith's daughter, like the actual Lilith, but Rayne had a hard time wrapping her head around that. She was much more willing to believe the one about her coming from a mysterious planet where the rivers were blood. 

Rayne herself was distressingly human, or at least half; and while she had very little memory of her childhood thanks to her bastard father, she figured she was only about a hundred and fifteen years old. 

Despite this, she had grown rather used to feeling invisible. Even her dearest friend Mynce had overpowered her; if the two of them were standing next to one another, Rayne might as well have not been there. 

But here was Lady Croft, chatting with her and smiling at her and treating her with no less deference than she gave to Ella. 

It made her squirm. 

"Was she in this state when you found her?" Croft said, and her gaze was full on Rayne's face. Rayne had slain monstrous creatures from the depths of Hell, hideous mutations grown in Nazi labs, her own kind, werewolves, the undead…but Lady Croft's warm brown eyes were too much, and she looked away. 

"She woke up when I pulled her out of the tank. She panicked and lashed out. The PFC was still in her lungs. It feels like drowning."

"You've…been in one of the tanks?"

Rayne's 'yes' was barely audible. 

It almost seemed as if Lady Croft stepped toward her. For what? To comfort her? No, of course not. It didn't matter, anyway. Ella spoke, commanding the room as she always did. 

"I like it not," she said, "but I like the unknown less, especially when dealing with the Thule Society. Let us wake her."

She nodded again to Rayne, who stepped forward and placed her palm lightly on the woman's forehead. Closing her eyes, she felt for the thread of compulsion she had woven around the woman's mind. 

Ella could compel with a word and a glance, but for Rayne it was much harder. She tried not to think about how impatient Ella and Lady Croft must have been getting as she gingerly plucked the geas free. 

The woman opened her eyes, and her face immediately contorted in a mask of rage. She lunged against the restraints, and Rayne noticed that even Ella took a step back in the face of that fury.

One thrust, then two; the woman realized she would not be breaking free, and stilled, conserving her energy. Rayne almost whistled. The woman was a fighter of some kind. Military, perhaps. Or a mercenary, which seemed more likely. 

She opened her mouth and snarled out a couple of words, and Croft gasped. 

"What is it, Lara?" Ella asked. 

"That's…that's…unless I miss my guess, she's speaking Hyrkanian. Astonishing!" 

"Can you understand it?"

"Not completely. I've never actually heard it spoken. No one has. Not for thousands of years. Unless I'm mistaken?"

She leveled her gaze at Ella.

"Languages are not my forté," the elegant woman murmured. 

"Well. From what little I can understand, she has some concerns about our collective ancestry; something to do with goats."

Rayne hid a smile behind her hand. 

The red-haired woman seemed to notice her for the first time. Her angry face settled into a more crafty expression. She spoke to Rayne, in a more or less even voice. Rayne found herself staring at the woman's lips as she spoke, as though if she watched hard enough, the words would make sense. 

Lady Croft frowned at her, then back at the redhead, then back at Rayne. 

"I think she recognizes you from the lab. She said something about fighting, and blood. She…doesn't seem angry with you."

Rayne stepped forward. She pointed to herself. 

"Rayne," she said. 

The woman narrowed her eyes, but she seemed to understand. 

"Rayne," she repeated, with a sharp nod in her direction. Her inflection was odd, almost sounding like she said "Ray-een". 

Rayne held up her hands to show that they were empty. Then she pointed at herself and said her own name again. 

When she pointed back at the woman, she received a sharp sideways lashing of her fiery locks. 

"Seems like 'no' is a bit of a cultural universal," Croft murmured. 

Rayne spun toward Ella. 

"Leave me with her. Please. I think she…well, maybe she doesn't trust me, but she seems willing to be reasonable with me."

Ella looked at Lady Croft.

"I need to return to England to get some books out of my library," Croft said. "I can put together a rudimentary lexicon on the flight back. Twenty four, maybe thirty-six hours."

"Please do," Ella said. 

Lady Croft put her hand on Rayne's arm, and Rayne had to still herself at the contact. 

"Don't do anything fun without me," Croft said in a low voice, and then turned and walked out. 

"I like it not," Ella repeated, seeming oblivious to the exchange. 

"Better me than you," Rayne said. "If things go bad, I…," she began, but broke off as Ella strode forward and gripped her by the chin. Not hard, but firm. 

"You are not expendable," she said. It was almost a growl. 

"But…,"

Ella shook her. 

"Not. Expendable. I care for you, and would not see you harmed."

Rayne ducked her head. She wasn't sure she deserved the Drakulonian's caring, but she wasn't about to tell the ancient vampiress otherwise. 

That would be suicide. 

"Okay," she managed. 

Ella stared at the woman for a long moment.

"Still," she mused. "Your intuition is seldom wrong. I will leave you with her, but I will be monitoring. I have faith in your ability, my dear, but if I sense that you are in danger, I will kill her where she stands."

"I understand," Rayne said. 

That 'my dear' was concerning. Ella seldom let down her mask of cool aloofness. Not without reason; she was a vampire, and losing control of herself could be catastrophic. It was bad enough when it happened to Rayne, and she was (quite literally) only half the vampire Ella was.  
Ella finally released her and strode toward the door. The red-haired woman watched her with wary eyes. Once the door closed, she turned back to Rayne, seeming unconcerned with the possibility of surveillance. 

"Sonja," she grunted. "Rayne. Sonja."

Rayne pointed to her.

"You? Your name is Sonja?"

A nod. They were getting somewhere. 

"I'm going to release your bindings."

The steel cables sang on the tiled floor and Sonja sat up. She spoke a few words, pointed at the door, then held her hands up together as though bound. Then she pointed at Rayne. 

"You've been in this situation before," Rayne murmured. The woman repeated her charade until Rayne was fairly certain she understood. She shook her head. 

"No," she said. "I'm not a captive."

Sonja stood. Rayne suppressed the urge to take a step back. The woman was like a wall of muscle, and had the grace of a prowling cat. Strong jaw, piercing hazel eyes, and a hard mouth, all framed by a mass of impossibly red hair. She tested the door first. Rayne let her patrol. 

Finally the woman came up to Rayne. Much to her surprise, Sonja held out her hand. She reached to take it and the woman gripped her arm, a warrior's grasp. Her hand was like a vice, and if Rayne had been wholly human, she probably would have been bruised. 

Sonja stared into her eyes. She tilted her head curiously, and before Rayne could react, the woman's fingers were in her mouth, pulling back her lip.

"Hey!" Rayne protested, stumbling back. 

Sonja opened her own mouth, then tapped her own teeth. Then she pointed at Rayne. 

"Dhampyr," she said. 

Rayne blinked. The inflection was odd, again, but she had definitely said 'dhampir'.

"You…know what I am?" she asked, forgetting that Sonja couldn't understand her. 

Sonja spoke in her own language. She leaned in close at one point, sounding almost accusing, but Rayne stood her ground and glared back. Sonja whirled away again, pacing and gesturing like she was arguing with herself. 

Rayne couldn't understand it, of course, though she was sure she heard the word 'dhampir' again once or twice. Sonja's voice was actually sort of pleasant, low enough to almost be a baritone and with a rough edge to it. It was a nice contrast to the refined tones of Ella and Croft. 

Not that she minded Lady Croft's voice in the slightest. 

Interesting, however, that Sonja had tagged her as a half-blood. Most people couldn't tell a dhampir from a vampire, even other vampires. 

Sonja had done arguing with herself and approached Rayne again. She held up her hands together and pointed to herself this time. 

Rayne didn't see the point in lying. 

"Yes," she said, nodding. 

Sonja then made eating motions, pointed to the door, and then made a strange gesture that Rayne eventually realized was meant to be her biting someone on the neck. Then she pointed to herself. 

After a few more repetitions, Rayne figured it out. 

"No," she said. "You're not food."

Sonja made a wry face and shrugged. Rayne couldn't help it. It was such an understandable expression. She burst out laughing. 

Sonja grinned at her just as Rayne's phone buzzed in her back pocket. 

"Hello?" she answered.

Sonja watched her warily. 

"Rayne? It's Lara. I hope you don't mind me calling you like this. How is our new friend?"

Lara. Not Lady Croft. Lara.

"Big," Rayne stammered. 

"I beg your pardon?"

"She's good. Uh. I've let her loose. She's really good at charades."

"What?"

"Er, sorry. Sign language. So far she's mostly concerned about Ella eating her."

"There's a joke in there somewhere," Lady Croft said. 

Rayne held the phone at arms length and stared at it. Did she just…?

Croft's voice sounded tinnily and she slapped the phone to her ear.

"…a few phrases, if you don't mind."

"Sure," Rayne said.

"Try saying this: yarhu zaifa haeer vurnow."

Croft coached her through it a few times and Rayne repeated it to Sonja. Sonja spoke back, and Rayne relayed it to Lara as best she could. 

"I believe she's asking if she's free to go," Lara said. 

"What should I tell her?"

There was a long silence.

"I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that, as she is not my guest," Lara finally said. 

"Can you give me something to tell her that might like…put her at ease a little?"

"Give me a moment," Lara said brightly. "If I disconnect, don't be alarmed. I'm over the Atlantic right now. If I lose you, I'll call you right ba--,"

The phone went silent for a moment and then there was only a tone.

Rayne sighed and thumbed the phone off. 

Sonja repeated the words that Lady Croft had translated as "am I free to go". Rayne could only shrug. 

Sonja growled and paced, until Ella came back into the room. She offered Sonja a smile, which on most humans would have made them soft and pliable as clay. Even Rayne felt drawn to her. 

Sonja, however, didn't so much as bat an eyelash. She crossed her arms and frowned at Ella. 

Ella inclined her head, a gesture of contrition. 

"I am still at a loss," she said. "I've run every scan I have at my disposal. She seems human enough, but there is something…a presence or energy…that registers, but that cannot be defined."

"Do you think she's a threat?" Rayne asked. 

"Do you?" Ella countered. 

Rayne thought about it, frowning at Sonja as she did. The Hyrkanian stuck out her tongue, and Rayne bit her lip to keep from grinning. 

"No, I don't. I think she's…out of her element…but she's a warrior. Adaptable. She hasn't tried to kill me yet, though she's had lots of opportunities."

"I concur."

Rayne beamed. 

Ella turned to Sonja and mimicked her 'eating' sign. She pointed at Sonja and repeated. She'd obviously been watching the exchange, because she mirrored the Hyrkanian woman's movements perfectly. 

Sonja looked at Rayne, the question plain on her face. 

"She does trust you," Ella murmured. 

"I think it's because she saw me fight. She sees me as a fellow warrior. You, uh…"

Ella arched a brow. 

"You look like a sorceress," Rayne blurted. 

Ella glanced down at herself. She was wearing what on anyone else would look like an evening dress, black (of course) with a crossed halter and a mermaid-style hemline. On her it looked casual. 

"A sorceress," she said. 

"Sorry," Rayne muttered. 

"I should hope so," Ella sniffed haughtily. "I was going for Morticia Addams."

Rayne gaped at her. Was that-- was that a joke?

Ella held the door open, gesturing Sonja through, seemingly unaware of Rayne's incredulous look. 

"Come," she said. "Let us feed our guest. I'm having some clothes made for her at the moment, since I do not think anything of yours will fit her."

Rayne shook herself and followed Sonja out the door, with Ella coming up behind.


	2. She-Devil With A Sword

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there's "probing fingers" and "warm wetness"  
> sike! It's Just a Flesh Wound

Like most BPRD field offices, Ella's complex followed the 'hidden in plain sight' tactic that served them so well, in this case Adjunct Water Treatment and Overflow Station #18. Rayne had visited a few field offices during her tenure with the organization, but Ella's was her favourite. 

It was at least fifty percent due to the fact that Ella was there, forty-five percent because of Ella's 'vampire aesthetic' design choices, and five percent the pipes. 

One of the crucial aspects of keeping up the facade was that it wasn't entirely a facade. Most of the above-ground facility was, in fact, a water treatment plant. Absurdly, Rayne was pleased by the idea that the BPRD was performing a mundane civic duty alongside the supernatural one. 

And she loved the sound of water rushing through the pipes. It was soothing. Running water had never been her friend, but she could forgive it just the once for the peace that sound brought her. 

Her train of thought was derailed by a gentle tap on the shoulder from Ella. 

"Is there something wrong with the way I dress?"

Rayne looked at her. 

"Of course not," she replied automatically. But she didn't miss the odd introspective look on Ella's face. 

"I'm sorry I said you look like a sorceress," she added.

"I was not certain that was a good thing," Ella said. 

Rayne felt her brows drawing in. It was unsettling to think that the always poised always cool always aloof Ella was self-conscious. 

It made her seem…more human. Something was up with her boss, and she wasn't sure how to deal with it.

"It's not a bad thing," Rayne said, and meant it. "You have a certain way of dressing. Like me, I dress a certain way, which is pretty much just rolling out of bed and putting on whichever mostly clean clothes I happen to land on. Lady Croft has that whole sexy college professor thing going on. It's just your style."

Ella's lips drew up in a small smile. 

"Still," she said after a moment, "perhaps I might…update…a little. You should see how I used to dress. No, actually, I withdraw that statement. You should not see how I used to dress. No one should."

"You know I'm just going to look it up in the archives now, right?"

Ella sighed. 

"Just…be kind. I was a different person back then."

Rayne's concern slipped to the back of her mind as they passed under the massive concrete archway that opened into the plant's cafeteria. The plant's staff were all BPRD employees, so there was a certain…relaxing...of the "dress code" when there were no civilians around. At first glance nothing seemed amiss; people in business casual mingled with those in work coveralls and the sounds of conversation and cutlery filled the air. 

At second glance, though, one might catch sight of a pair of stunted wings protruding from the back of a button-down, or a pair of cloven hooves where work boots ought to be. Rayne sucked in a breath. She'd lived in shacks and mansions and regular suburbia, but the BPRD was the first place that felt like home. 

The upshot of all this was that aside from a few deferent greetings to Ella, no one paid them or their red-haired companion the slightest mind. 

Rayne felt a wry smirk stretch across her lips. Apparently "home", for her, was the place where everyone ignored you. 

Sonja strode in like she owned the place. Nothing seemed to faze her. It made Rayne seriously wonder what kind of place she had come from. 

Rayne guided her to the trays, and showed her how to choose what food she wanted, which was apparently all of it. They found a mostly unoccupied table and sat, Sonja on one side and Rayne and Ella opposite her. 

Much to Rayne's surprise the woman was not stymied by the cutlery, though she tossed the knife away after testing its edge on her thumb and stabbed food with her fork like she thought it was going to escape. 

Rayne was not surprised by the woman's appetite; that kind of bulk and muscle mass likely required a lot of calories. 

"What do we do now?" she asked Ella, her eyes on Sonja. 

"There's not much to do until Lady Croft returns from England."

"When will that be?" Rayne asked, a little too quickly. 

"Twenty hours or so, assuming she does not stop to sleep, which, if I know her, she will not."

"It's just…I'm a little worried about what our guest might do if she gets bored, or suddenly decides that she doesn't want to be our guest any more."

Ella mused on that for a few moments.

"You suspect she is a warrior. I am inclined to agree. Perhaps she would enjoy a bit of sparring," she said. 

"Uh, is it wise to put a weapon in her hand?"

"Perhaps not. But at the moment she does not seem inclined to violence, nor escape. And I must admit…I am curious. I would like to see what she can do with a sword."

"She knows what I am. It's not unreasonable to assume she knows how to kill someone like me, and by that extension, someone like you."

"I am not concerned. She seems to have taken a liking to you. Do you know she hasn't taken her eyes off you the entire time we've been sitting here?"

Rayne glanced over at Sonja. The redhead grinned at her around a mouthful of food.

"Shit," Rayne said, looking away.

"This bothers you?"

"What does she want?" Rayne hissed. "I don't...I can't...what do I do?"

"It's entirely possible that she just finds you attractive."

Rayne glared at her. 

"You are not helping," she complained. 

"I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about," Ella responded. Rayne was beginning to think she was enjoying herself a little too much. 

"I'm not sure I could take her, even in a sparring match," Rayne said. "I mean unless she was completely human, but it sounds like you're not convinced that she is."

"I am not," Ella agreed. "Which is why you are not going to be the one sparring with her. I am."

"What? No! You can't! I forbid it."

Ella's perfectly arched brows looked like they were trying to crawl up under her hairline. 

"You…forbid it?" she asked, her tone icy.

"That's not what I meant," Rayne stammered. "You just…you're the senior officer here, I can't let you just…,"

"Can't let me what? What is it that you can't LET me do?" Ella demanded. 

"Uh…I can't let you…be too harsh on your subordinates?"

Ella regarded her balefully for a moment, then huffed and turned her attention back to Sonja. 

"One can learn a lot about a person when they have a blade in their hand," she mused. 

That was a shallow dig, but Rayne winced, remembering a time not long ago when she and Ella looked at each other over a length of steel. Rayne's steel, at Ella's throat. Rayne had been…indiscriminate, then. An unchained beast, Ella had called her, and out of any other mouth she'd have taken it as a compliment. 

Ella had broken her like a beast…but had put her back together again afterward, and rebuilt her stronger. 

It was why Rayne would take a bullet for her, without hesitation or demand. Well, maybe not a bullet, since that would be at worst an inconvenience for her and not even a consideration for Ella. Rayne had seen the tall vampiress shrug off a close range shotgun blast to the chest. 

Still, if Ella asked, Rayne would give up her half-life, and gladly. 

Once Sonja was finished eating, Ella rose and beckoned them through a smaller archway than the one they'd entered through. Rayne could see the way Sonja's eyes took in every detail; she was mapping the place in her mind. 

Mercenary for sure, she thought. Looking for avenues and opportunities. 

The hallway off the cafeteria went to the staff gymnasium, which was never empty, though when Ella glided in, everyone seemed to be finishing their last reps and in a hurry to go. 

She retrieved two practice swords from a locked cabinet tucked behind a weight rack. They were steel, full size and weight. The only thing that made them 'practice' swords was their lack of an edge. 

Ella held one out, hilt first. Sonja looked at it warily, then back to Ella. Then she grabbed the hilt, but Ella gripped the blade and held it. There was no edge on the blade, but it could still cleave flesh and break bone with enough force behind it. This was a show of power. A challenge. Its meaning was clear: don't hold back. 

Rayne felt her gut clenching. This was a very bad idea. 

Sonja gave her a curt nod, and Ella released the blade. The redhead gave it a few swings, testing the weight, then stood warily apart from Ella, in a coiled crouch. 

Ella was motionless, the sword held lightly, point down, along the length of her shin. Her eyes were half closed. She seemed not to be paying attention at all. 

Sonja looked at Rayne, who gave her an aggressively exasperated shrug. 

The redhead lunged forward, quiet as a cat, sweeping a low horizontal cut at Ella's unarmed right side. 

Ella's sword arched out in a silver crescent, shoving Sonja's blade aside with little effort. And then she was still again, blade against her shin, like she'd never moved. 

A loud bray startled Rayne enough that she jumped. 

Sonja was laughing. 

"You're both crazy," Rayne whispered in an incredulous tone. 

What followed was an intense battle that, despite her misgivings, Rayne could not tear her eyes away from. It was like watching a volcano erupting during a lightning storm. Sonja was a flow of lava, an inexorable force with the strength of a blazing mountain of fire behind it. Ella was lightning: precise, dazzling, devastating when she landed. Soon Sonja was sweating, but showed no signs of fatigue as she launched assault after relentless assault on Ella, who seemed a pillar of stone. 

And then it happened. 

Sonja feinted, and Ella lifted the tip of her sword. But instead of moving aside or striking the blade away, Sonja thrust herself on to it. 

Ella went rigid, but not because of the wound; Sonja had her blade at Ella's throat. 

Rayne let out a yelp; she was already moving. She stiff-armed the two women away from each other, or that was her intent. Ella didn't budge, so she ended up just shoving Sonja, and that set her off balance.

Sonja stumbled back, and Rayne fell. 

She lay on the floor, groaning, more from insult than injury. Two concerned faces hovered over her. No, scratch that: one coolly impassive face and one grinning idiot. 

"What is wrong with you two," she complained. 

"It appears that I was correct in my assumption about our new friend. She seems to have quite enjoyed our sparring," Ella said, sounding smug.

"You stabbed her," Rayne cried. 

"Technically, she stabbed herself," Ella said haughtily. 

Rayne struggled to a sitting position. She gestured in a mostly helpless fashion at the red stain and ragged rent in Sonja's infirmary coverall. 

Sonja laughed and began unzipping the top.

"Whoa whoa," Rayne cried, lunging to her feet and grabbing the lapels of Sonja's coverall. "No flashing."

In return, Sonja grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm, stuffing Rayne's hand down the unzipped front. Rayne had only a moment to register her palm gliding over sweat-slick abs, before her fingertips touched a warm wetness that she knew instinctively was blood. 

And then she felt the edge of the wound. Despite herself, her fingers probed curiously. It was already sealing itself shut. She could feel the skin ruching under her touch, and she yanked her hand free, shuddering. 

Sonja laughed again, and even Ella smiled. 

"If you two are quite finished," Rayne grumbled, but was cut off as Sonja let out a war whoop and thrust her fists into the air. 

"Let her have her moment," Ella purred slyly. "Clearly I was the victor, as I drew first blood."

"Technically she drew first blood," Rayne sniffed in a haughty mimicry of Ella's voice. The moment the words were past her lips she slapped her hand over her mouth.

"Well," Ella drawled in a chilly voice, "that is a remarkably good impression. One might think you had been…practising it."

"Is Lady Croft back yet?" Rayne muttered. "Maybe I can convince her to bury me in a tomb that no one will discover for three thousand years."

"Perhaps you have forgotten that I am immortal. But we will discuss this later. For now I think it best that we find our prematurely celebrating friend some proper clothing."


	3. Tomb Dater

Ella had her own personal suite of offices in the lowest sublevel of the plant: a cavern that had originally been used for storage. The walls and ceiling of the natural cave had been left in place; stalactites and stalagmites provided sinuous columns, and places where water had been dripping for a thousand years had been made into tiled pools. There was no electric light. Dozens of perforated brass oil lamps were hung around the cavern, the cutouts casting images of leafless trees upon the walls. The back wall of the cavern was taken up by a massive river-stone hearth and mantel, and a fire roared merrily behind iron grates. 

Lacquered dark wood screens separated several areas or hid small alcoves for privacy. There was a full bar, dozens of free-standing bookshelves and library carts, and a large and conspicuously modern flatscreen monitor bolted to one wall. 

Rayne watched Sonja's face for reaction but the red-haired woman was still impassive. 

"Make yourself comfortable," Ella said, and disappeared behind a screen. Rayne was constitutionally incapable of being comfortable in Ella's suite, but Sonja seemed to get the gist and flopped down into an overstuffed leather armchair. 

Ella reappeared with some garments draped over her arm and what looked to be a pair of leather biker boots dangling from one elegant manicured hand. She held the boots out to Sonja, who accepted them after a nod from Rayne. 

She turned them upside down first, like she expected there to be a scorpion in them. She stuck her arm inside them and thrust around, testing the strength of the leather. Satisfied, she seemed ready to put them on, but Ella shoved the clothes toward her. 

Sonja, now looking a bit bewildered, sorted through the garments and held them up for inspection. 

The first thing she held up was a sports bra, which dangled from her thumb and forefinger. That got an arched brow, and she set it aside. Next was a set of boxer briefs, which received the same treatment. A plain charcoal grey t-shirt was shrugged at, but the leather pants, also looking like they were meant for a biker, were regarded with a pleased nod.

Sonja stood and unzipped her coverall again. 

"For fuck's sake," Rayne muttered. 

Sonja held up the sports bra, turned it back and forth with a frown, but eventually figured out what went where and slipped it over her head. 

"Huh," she said. She jumped up and down a few times. Turning to Rayne she spoke, pointing to her chest and seeming quite pleased. Rayne nodded somewhat helplessly. She looked to Ella for assistance but her boss was nowhere to be seen. 

"Ha!" Sonja said. She had donned the boxer briefs and was doing some sort of squat-lunge thing. 

"Underwear is apparently not a thing where you're from," Rayne said. 

Sonja replied in Hyrkanian, to which Rayne just shrugged. 

Once in the t-shirt and leather pants, Sonja looked sort of normal, aside from the blazing red hair and the fact that she was over six feet tall and had the body of a weightlifter. 

"Ah, lovely. An excellent fit," Ella said from behind her. Rayne turned and felt her jaw drop.

Ella had changed. 

Gone was the slinky evening gown. She wore a short red leather jacket with gold clasps, black shorts over leggings, and soft-looking roll-top boots. And her hair, which was disgustingly raven-black-perfectly wavy-silk, was pulled up in a high tail. Rayne had never once seen her mentor with her hair up. Or in anything other than a dress. 

"What is going on," she fairly whined. 

"Hmm," Ella said, tapping her lower lip thoughtfully. "Perhaps I should have found something for you as well."

Rayne looked down at herself. She felt like pouting. She'd worn her least holey jeans and a hoodie that was miraculously free of food or bloodstains (sometimes they were both). And her nicest Chucks. She was practically ready for church. 

"I'm fine," she grumbled. 

Ella peered closely at her. 

"When was the last time you slept?"

"I'm fine," Rayne insisted. 

"That does not answer my question."

Rayne sighed. 

"I don't know. On the train to Baden-Solingen?"

"That was a week ago," Ella frowned. 

"I don't need sleep."

"Half of you does not need sleep," Ella corrected. "You are of no use to me if you pass out standing up. Go, get cleaned up and rest. I will take care of Sonja for the nonce."

"But…"

"Unless you feel that you cannot LET me handle things on my own," Ella added. 

Rayne winced. Of course she had not forgotten, and likely would not. Ever. Defeated, she turned to go, but Sonja's grip on her arm stayed her. 

The Hyrkanian woman said something in a questioning tone. 

"It's all right," Rayne said. "I'm gonna go sleep."

She mimed laying her head down and closing her eyes. Sonja's gaze flicked between her and Ella. 

"It's all right," Rayne said again, nodding, and gesturing Sonja towards the vampiress. 

Sonja clasped her arm again, more gently this time, and gave her a reluctant nod in return. Rayne felt as though she could feel Sonja's eyes on her as she walked away. 

Finding a place to sleep meant leaving the plant proper and winding through the subterranean labyrinth of the BPRD. She was tired, though she'd never admit it to Ella; she hardly needed to remind her mentor of her own weaknesses. 

'You are of no use to me,' Ella had said. 

Rayne's human half was an inconvenience, a problem to be dealt with. 

She found a security guard barracks room. There was a human-looking woman lacing up her boots on one of the bunks. 

"Just need to crash for a few," Rayne mumbled, embarrassed. 

"I feel that," the woman said as she stood. "You're fine in here."

Rayne thanked her as she walked out. She went to the back of the room and clambered up the steel frame to the top bunk furthest from the door. She lay on her back, staring up at the arched stone ceiling. 

'You are of no use to me…'

Realistically, she knew Ella didn't mean it like that, it was just a thing people said. Though Ella rarely said things she didn't mean. On the other hand, the vampiress had been acting oddly recently, since she had brought Sonja back from the Thule facility. 

Could Sonja have been some kind of sorceress? Rayne doubted it; the woman seemed too…genuine…to be any sort of spellcaster. And Rayne was usually a good judge of people. It was a skill upon which Ella relied.

"I am of use," Rayne said to the ceiling, and for a moment she almost believed she meant it. 

She must have dozed, as she felt herself struggling into wakefulness. She had no memory of drowsing; she was just suddenly aware that she'd been asleep. 

Bleary, she raked her fingers through her short messy hair and swung her legs over the edge of the bunk.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Or should I say good evening?"

Rayne blinked and froze. 

Across from her, Lady Croft stretched out on a lower bunk, her handsome face aglow in the light of her laptop. She had an earpiece in and was tapping away at the keys. 

"Buh," Rayne offered. Then: "How long have I been out?"

"I'm not certain," Lady Croft replied, eyes on her screen. "When I came looking for you, you were already asleep. I've been here for about four hours."

She picked up an insulated mug and sipped from it, setting it down with a clank on the metal bed frame. 

"You probably could have set up in Ella's office, it's a lot nicer and more comfortable," Rayne told her. 

Lady Croft looked up at her. 

"Your mentor is currently attempting to teach our Hyrkanian friend some rudimentary English. It's…quieter…down here."

Rayne tried to arrange her hair into something less like a rat's nest. She felt on edge for some reason, like something was about to burst out of her. 

"What are you working on?" she asked. It was an attempt at polite conversation, marred somewhat by her voice coming out in a sort of awkward protracted squeak. 

"Voice-triggered earpieces with translation software. It's a bit tricky as Hyrkanian is a dead language, but I picked up some audio from our ginger friend for pronunciation purposes. Ideally, the earpiece registers her words and converts them to English for us in more or less real time."

Rayne perked up.

"That's really cool," she said with enthusiasm. 

"I can't take the credit," Lady Croft said with a small smile. "The technology was already there. It's the language that is making it a challenge. Hyrkanians have a lot of, shall we say, colourful expressions."

Rayne decided that Lady Croft could read her a vacuum cleaner repair manual and she would be enthralled. 

"Where is Hyrkania, exactly?"

"That is the source of much speculation," Croft replied. "It is believed to have existed long before our own recorded history. Much like Atlantis, its existence is difficult to verify, despite the presence of artifacts and writings believed to have originated there. Not every chronicler is trustworthy."

"So…Sonja came from the past? That's kinda fucked up."

Lady Croft arched a brow at her. 

"Well, everything she knows or knew is long gone, right? Whatever friends and family she had, dead and dust. Hell, even her land isn't there anymore. She can't go home."

"Ah. That is indeed fucked up."

"God, it sounds so much better when you say it."

Croft looked up at her, mug halfway to her lips. 

"Do you wanna maybe go for a coffee some time," Rayne blurted, the words coming out in a rush. Her guts felt like a tsunami was crashing around in there. 

"Shit," she said, suddenly aware of the mug. "You're English. You probably don't even drink coffee. Tea, right? Ahh," she trailed off, hoping this was all just a horrible dream and that she would wake up any minute now. 

Any minute now. 

"First," Croft said primly, holding her mug up, "this is a pumpkin spice latte. I most certainly do drink coffee. And tea. Second, are you asking me on a date?"

Any minute now. 

"I was trying. Sorry."

"Not at all," Croft said briskly. "I'm afraid I must decline, however. Not for lack of interest, mind. I find you charming, funny, and attractive. But as Vampi and I have something of a history, I feel that it would be inappropriate."

"Who?" Rayne mumbled, confused. 

Much to her surprise, she saw a bit of colour in Lady Croft's cheeks. 

"Oh dear," she said. "You mustn't let on that you heard that name from me, please. Ella has a vindictive streak and a very long memory, as I'm sure you know."

"Ella? You mean Ella? Ella? You're talking about my boss? You and her?"

"Yes," Croft replied. 

"WHAT did you call her?"

"Please don't ask me to repeat it."

"I…oh. Fuck. Yeah. No, I get it. Oh my GOD this explains so much. This is why she's been acting weird."

"Weird?" Croft asked, slowly closing her laptop and giving Rayne her full attention. Rayne blundered obliviously onward. 

"Yeah, she's been all weird about how she's dressed and how she looks and she changed her clothes, you must have seen that, she had her hair up for fuck sakes, I wasn't sure that was even possible, and she had pants on, like what? And it's you, it's because...because…of…you…?" she trailed off, suddenly aware of Lady Croft's intense focus and yet slightly glazed expression. 

"I should not have said that," Rayne groaned. 

Croft blinked and shook herself. 

"No, it's fine. Just surprising, is all. I didn't think she still…but never mind that."

She opened her laptop again and began typing. 

"Well," Rayne said. "At least now I can rest confident that I never had a chance. I'm gonna go grab something to eat. You want anything from the cafeteria?"

"I beg your pardon," Croft said, frowning at her. 

"Do you want anything to eat from the cafeteria?"

"What did you mean by 'I never had a chance?'," she demanded. 

"You dated Ella," Rayne said, shrugging. "compared to her, I'm--,"

"Compared to her you're charming, funny, open, honest, and don't have a telephone-pole-sized stick lodged firmly up your arse," Croft said sharply.

"Uh…thanks?"

"I just want to be clear. I would be more than happy to go on a date with you, just not under the present circumstances."

"You would?"

"Absolutely. Why wouldn't I?"

Rayne held out her arms. 

"I mean look at me. Next to Ella I'm like a trash goblin."

Croft smirked, but her face grew serious. 

"That's not what I see," she said. "The way you dress suggests that you value comfort. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a gowns and high heels kind of woman. Now, it would be unfair to compare you in the looks department but only, and I cannot stress this enough, because Ella is not human. The same standards do not apply to her. Her beauty is alien. Yours is human."

"I'm not exactly human either."

"Human enough," Croft said. 

Rayne felt a weird ache that went from her chest to her gut. Ella had told her that her human side made her useless. Lady Croft was telling her that her human side made her attractive. She felt a little bit like throwing up. 

"A date with her would be expensive restaurants, dancing, picturesque scenery. I suspect a date with you would involve cuddling on the couch and watching movies. Neither has more intrinsic worth than the other…though I do believe I've already made clear that I place a premium on comfort."

Rayne just stared at her. 

"I, uh," she said

"Since you're heading to the cafeteria, I could use a scone or a muffin, something sweet, if you wouldn't mind? I'm craving carbs."

"Yeah," Rayne said, bemused. "Yeah, sure." And she wandered out, leaving Lady Croft to her programming.


	4. Can You Hear Me Now?

When Rayne got to the cafeteria, she found Sonja and Ella there. Sonja was eating again. When she saw Rayne, her face lit up. 

Rayne couldn't help smiling back. 

She sat down.

"Rayne, Rayne," Sonja said, trying to get her attention. "Rayne. Hi."

Rayne blinked at her. The inflection was accented again, it sounded like "hay-ee", but it was still recognizable. 

"Hi," she said back. She turned to Ella.

"You taught her 'hi'?"

"She did not strike me as a 'how do you do' sort of person."

Rayne stared at her. The jacket, the leggings, the hair. 

Vampi.

don't think about them making out don't think about them making out don't think about them making out don't think about them making out don't think about them--

"…making out?" Ella said. 

For one brief terrified moment Rayne thought she had spoken her thoughts out loud, but Ella's expression registered only mild curiosity.

"Huh?" she said intelligently. 

"Lady Croft had said she was going to work on some translation software and was planning to stop by and say hello to you. I was wondering if you had any idea how she was making out with the program," Ella said, frowning. 

"Yep, good, good, everything's fine, nothing's wrong, she's hard at work, type type type," Rayne said. 

"Hi," Sonja interjected. 

"Hi," Rayne responded absently. 

"Rayne, is aught amiss? Did you not sleep at all?"

"I'm fine. I slept. Ask Lady Croft, I was out cold when she found me."

"You seem unfocused. Scattered. Are you well?"

"Honestly, I'm fine," Rayne lied. "I'm just wondering what we're gonna do with Sonja."

"Hi," Sonja said. 

"Hi," Rayne responded. "Lady Croft said that if she actually is from Hyrkania…well, it doesn't exist any more. Nothing she knows exists. It's all gone. She's got nothing. And I don't know how she's gonna react when we tell her."

"Look around you, Rayne," Ella said, not ungently. "Everyone here is out of sync with the rest of the world. Everyone here has lost something. Many of them have lost everything. I have. You have. And yet we endure."

"Are you saying that we should keep her here? I don't think she's going to like being a prisoner."

"No," Ella said. "Not a prisoner. An employee."

Rayne looked across the table at Sonja, who smiled at her. 

"Not an employee," she muttered. "Family."

"Rayne?"

"We have to be her family. She has no one. Giving her a job isn't enough. She needs…she needs people."

"And what if she chooses not to stay?" Ella said. 

"I think she'll stay. For me. God, I know that sounds egotistical but you know how I am with sussing people out. But I know it. I can feel it. She'll stay for me."

"I believe you are right."

Just then Lady Croft arrived, laptop under one arm and a sleek black plastic box under the other. 

"I thought maybe they were out of scones," she said, grinning at Rayne.

"Shit! I totally forgot. I'm so sorry."

"Hi," Sonja said to Croft. 

"Hello. Er, 'hi'. I see the English lessons are going great guns."

She looked at Ella for a long time, just drinking her in. Rayne coughed. 

"Right!" Croft said, setting her things on the table. She opened the plastic case. Inside were four earpieces. She picked one up and handed it to Ella, and passed two to Rayne. 

"The one with the red dot on it is for her. It's set up the reverse to ours. It will translate English to Hyrkanian. I hope."

Rayne stuffed the earpiece into her ear. It was a bit uncomfortable, but she was sure she'd get used to it. She held up the other one to show Sonja. 

"Hi," Sonja said. 

"Hi. You gotta stick this in your ear." She mimed the action. 

Sonja took the earpiece gingerly and looked at it. Then she passed it back to Rayne. She bent her head forward and pulled her fiery red hair aside. 

"I think she wants you to do it," Croft said. 

"Huh," Rayne breathed, wiping her sweating palms on her pants. "Uh, okay."

She stood and walked around the table. Sonja's neck under her hair wasn't quite as scarred as the rest of her. Rayne eyed the muscle of her shoulder, the veins tracing under her skin. She noticed that there was a small notch in the woman's earlobe. 

She put her hand on Sonja's shoulder, though she wasn't sure if it was to comfort her or steady herself. 

It's just an earpiece, she thought. 

Feeling a bit foolish, she cupped the back of Sonja's head and gently pressed the earpiece into her ear canal. 

"I hope this works," she muttered. 

Sonja turned to her, a disgruntled look on her face. She spoke in Hyrkanian. 

"I don't hear anything," Rayne said. She looked at Lady Croft, who frowned at her laptop. 

"I don't understand," she said. "They should be working."

Rayne turned to Sonja. 

"I'm sorry. Please just give us a moment. I know it's uncomfortable."

"This? Uncomfortable? Pah. I've had worse things stuck in my body."

"I don't want to know," Rayne said, holding up her hands. Then she rocked back.

"Sonja. Say something else."

"Your accent is funny."

"You can understand me?"

"Aye, I can," Sonja said. 

"It works!" Rayne turned to Lady Croft. "It works! You did it!"

"I had no doubt," Sonja said. 

Rayne looked at her. 

"You didn't?"

"The one you call Lady is a powerful sorceress. I knew this when I first saw you speaking to her through that mirror in your pocket."

"Your trust humbles me," Croft told her.

"I do not trust witches," Sonja replied, "but my keth'ri likes you, so I trust you."

Rayne looked at Lady Croft. 

"Keth'ri? The translator didn't pick that up."

Croft tapped a few keys. 

"It's not in the lexicon."

"You are keth'ri," Sonja said to Rayne. "I have blood-debt to you."

"No…no. There's no debt. All I did was pull you out of the tank."

"You fought the evil ones. The fucking fucking fucking FUCKING men who enslaved me."

"Uh..." Rayne said, looking at Lady Croft again. 

"I did say the Hyrkanians had a lot of colourful expressions," Croft responded, sounding a bit sheepish. "I didn't have time to put them all in. The software is just going on 'best guess' I'm afraid."

"That's not…you don't owe me for that," Rayne said to Sonja. 

"This is my way," Sonja said firmly. 

Rayne sighed. 

"All right. Fine. Wait-- this isn't one of those things where keth'ri sounds really cool at first but then it turns out I have to be sacrificed to a volcano god, is it?"

Sonja guffawed. 

"No, lovely breasts. It is not like that."

"Okay, now I know the software's fucking up. She did not just call me that," Rayne complained. 

Lady Croft didn't even bother to look at her laptop. 

"Nope," she said, grinning. "That was the correct translation."

"Seriously?"

"Do you not enjoy having your breasts complimented?" Sonja said, puzzled. 

"How should I know? It's not like it's something that happens every day!"

"Oh. Then I will compliment them every day, do not worry."

"No! Lady Croft, please stop laughing. This is not funny," Rayne said.

"It's a little bit funny," Croft replied with a wide grin.

Rayne turned back to Sonja, holding out the front of her hoodie. 

"You can't even see them!"

"No. But I felt them against me when you carried me from the temple where the faceless wizards had me. Like firm, ripe fruits, succulent with--"

"All right moving on!" Rayne practically shouted. A few cafeteria patrons glanced their way at the outburst, but soon went back to their meals and conversations. She was saved from further embarrassment when Ella stood, drawing all eyes to her. 

"Let us retire to my suite. We have much to discuss."

Lady Croft gathered her computer and the case and followed after Ella. 

"Keth'ri," Sonja said. "Your land and ways are strange to me, but I do not wish to offend you. If you would not have me speak of your breasts, I will not."

"Thank you," Rayne said. "I mean. I appreciate the compliment, I'm just…we can talk about it later, all right?"

"Yes," Sonja said. "I am glad of this magic that allows us to speak."

"I am too," Rayne said, and smiled at her. She gestured after Croft and Ella, and followed behind as they walked out of the cafeteria.

"I have questions," Sonja said brusquely as she strode into the cavern. "Am I a prisoner?"

"No," Ella said before Rayne could speak. "But this is not your world, and there are dangers here you are unaware of. I thought it best to keep you here until we could sort a few things out."

Rayne gaped at Ella. She'd hoped to ease into that conversation, give Sonja a chance to process. But the red-haired woman only nodded, folding her arms across her chest. 

"That seems well," she said. "How came you to know my language?"

"Your time is our very distant past," Croft told her.

"Thank the goddess," Sonja said, looking relieved. 

"You're happy about that?" Rayne asked.

"No. But I am still on the right world. This is not   
some strange hell or other world in the stars."

"But your people are gone. Everything you knew is gone. We don't even know where your home used to be!"

Rayne was startled to find that she was shouting, and even more startled to discover tears stinging her eyes. She swiped angrily at them with her sleeve. 

"Keth'ri, do not be distressed. I have known losses uncountable, and Death is so close to me he fucking fuck, fucking, fuck fuck. Sonja's home is where Sonja stands...and at the side of my keth'ri."

"But," Rayne blubbered. Sonja closed the space between them in a single stride and gathered her in arms that felt like tree trunks. 

"Weep not for Sonja, my keth'ri. As long as I am hale and can swing a blade, I fear nothing."

"But," Rayne murmured into Sonja's now damp t-shirt, "what if we can't get you back?"

"Then I go forward. This is my way," she said. 

"If you're finished," Ella said archly. Rayne nodded, and Sonja released her, unfazed by the tear stains on her shirt.

"Rayne and I are part of an organization that protects those who need it and fights those who would cause harm. We operate in the shadows. Magic and monsters are feared by most. We protect them. We protect ourselves," Ella said. 

"Vampires and dhampirs who help instead of harm. Your time is strange indeed."

"Rest assured," Ella said, "there are vampires who harm aplenty in this time as well. Some things do not change."

"And the evil ones?"

"What can you tell us about the ones who captured you?" Ella asked. "They are known to us as Nazis, members of a cult called the Thule Society."

"I do not know what they were called. But there was one, a leader. They feared him. He wore a metal mask."

"Motherfucker," Rayne spat. "Kroenen."

Ella glanced at her. 

"Kroenen was reported dead," she said. 

"Kroenen has been reported dead four times," Rayne retorted. "Forgive me if I have my doubts."

"If it is Kroenen, then he will not look kindly upon having his project liberated."

Rayne turned to her. Her chest burned and her gut roiled. 

"It's him. I can feel it."

Ella sighed. 

"Your gut feelings are seldom, if ever, wrong. Very well. We know what kind of threat Kroenen imposes. I will contact the home office and begin preparations. Lady Croft, it might be best if you went home."

"More than likely."

"I can have you removed," Ella warned. 

"Yes, that went so very well the last time you tried it," Croft said cheerfully. 

Ella gave her a hooded, serpentine stare. 

"Have it your way. I'll have a room assigned to you."

"Thank you," Croft said, and just as Ella turned to go, she stepped up close and said something low that Rayne couldn't hear. 

Ella froze. Her mouth opened like she was going to say something. Then it closed and opened again. Abruptly she spun on her heel and stormed out. 

"What did you say to her?" Rayne asked as Croft came back to them.

"I just told her I liked her hair," she replied with a satisfied smirk. 

Rayne shook her head. She turned to say something to Sonja but the redhead was slumped in a low armchair, sound asleep. 

Rayne rubbed the bridge of her nose. 

"I like that one," Lady Croft said. "There's something noble about her."

"That should have been devastating, what we told her. But she just shrugged it off. How much…what kind of shit do you have to go through for something like that to be…just…not that big a deal?"

"She has a lot of scars," Croft said. "You don't get scars like that from an easy life." 

"I just feel so bad for her. She has nothing."

"Not true," Croft said. "She has her keth'ri. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bed."

After Lady Croft left, Rayne paced for a while to the sound of Sonja's snores. There was likely little point to waking her up and trying to get her to a bed, so Rayne just slid another chair up next to her and flopped down in it. She watched Sonja's chest rise and fall with her breathing for a while.

"All right, you big goon. I'm your damn keth'ri, whatever that means. No matter what. I'll be your family."

Sonja's only reply was a rattling snore. Sighing, Rayne leaned back, grabbed the remote, and turned on the tv.


	5. Angst Hers Aweigh

Rayne, zoned out in front of the tv, jumped when Sonja snorted herself awake. 

"Rayne. I would like to go outside."

"Wow, you're just...up… just like that, huh."

"You are right, keth'ri. We should break our fast, first." She sprang up out of the chair.

"To the feasting hall!"

Rayne eyed her. 

"Do you-- is that a thing you do, for real?" she asked. 

"What thing?"

"The whole leaping around, shouting, grand gesture thing."

Sonja looked down at her, hands on hips. 

"Life is short, bloody, and cruel. Why should I not live it as grandly as possible?"

"That is annoyingly inspiring," Rayne grumbled. 

"Will you join me, or must I carry you like a blushing bride to the bedchamber?"

"A what to the what?"

Sonja lunged at her. Rayne was caught so off guard that her vampirically enhanced speed gave her no advantage. She let out an 'oof' as Sonja's shoulder barreled into her gut, and then she was up and dangling, sputtering and flailing. Sonja had tossed her over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. 

"Put me down! I can walk!"

"Aye," Sonja said. "But this is more fun!" 

She slapped Rayne on the ass with her free hand. 

Rayne went rigid. She could feel her eyes bugging out. Her mouth was frozen in an 'O' of blazing-cheeked outrage. 

Sonja took advantage of the distraction to head down the hall to the cafeteria at a brisk trot. 

"What the fuck," Rayne finally managed. 

"I am sorry, but in my defense, you have a lovely--"

"Don't say it," Rayne growled. 

She could have struggled. She could have made Sonja put her down. Instead she sighed, rested her elbow on Sonja's muscular back, and slumped her chin into her hand. 

This is my life now, she thought. 

"Well, what do you have there?" Rayne heard Lady Croft say as they entered the cafeteria. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Perfect. 

Sonja set her down, and she turned around to face Croft. 

"Did you get settled in all right, Lady Croft?"

"I don't suppose there's any way I can convince you to just call me Lara?"

"I don't know," Rayne admitted. "It feels too familiar."

"I had rather hoped that we could become more familiar," she said, "but no matter. It would seem I'm leaving after all."

"What? Why?"

"I went to speak to Ella about coordinating whatever resources I could lend and she-- she made it quite clear that I was not welcome."

Rayne blinked. Lady Croft was as poised as always, but her gut told her the woman was hurting. 

"I don't understand. I thought she…with the hair and the…oh, fuck, Lady Cr-- Lara. Lara, this is my fault. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Lara replied. "Mine, for getting my hopes up."

"Damn it. Listen. I don't care what Ella says. Please stay. For…for…Sonja."

"Hi," Sonja said. 

"Sonja doesn't trust witches, as she said. I'm not sure she would want me to stay either."

"You are not so bad, for a witch," Sonja said. 

"Thank you," Lara said with a half-smile. 

"No, look," Rayne went on. "As far as we know, Sonja's the only living Hyrkanian in existence right now. Having ancient writings and artifacts is one thing, but you said it yourself: chroniclers are not always trustworthy. Imagine what you could learn directly from the source."

"I fain would not have my people forgotten in the sands of time," Sonja agreed. 

Rayne looked back at Lara, but whatever she'd been about to say disappeared as she saw the woman's expression. Her eyes were glazed, focusing on nothing. Her lips were parted, and she was breathing shallowly.

"Ha!" Sonja barked. "That is a witch for you. The thought of knowledge gleaned arouses her!"

"I'm not…aroused," Lara replied indignantly, her words interrupted by light panting. "All right, perhaps just a little. But I cannot be blamed. This is every archaeologist's dream! Being able to learn of an ancient civilization directly from the mouth of one of its citizens! I've always had a soft spot for Hyrkania, did you know? I have the largest private collection of artifacts and texts…oh," she broke off.

Sonja grinned. 

"Are your knees getting wobbly?" she asked in a sly voice. 

"Listen, you," Lara frowned, but she turned back to Rayne, and it was impossible to miss the excitement in her eyes and the flush on her cheeks. 

"I'll stay," she breathed. And then she grabbed Rayne's face and planted a wet kiss on her lips. 

Rayne froze, and fire tore through her, fire and electricity, with waves of tingling in their wakes. Her vision went white, then exploded. When Lara released her, she stumbled back a step. 

"Sorry," Lara said. "Got a bit carried away, there."

"Hnngh," Rayne replied thoughtfully. She bent over, hands on her knees. 

"You look like you're about to throw up. It wasn't that bad, surely."

"No, no, I'm fine," Rayne wheezed, waving her off. "Go play with Sonja, I just need a minute."

"Come," Sonja said, "let me tell you of Hyrkania. Perhaps you should lay down some absorbent cloths before you sit."

"You're terrible," Lara replied. 

Rayne stood, scrubbing her face with her hands. 

"I need a cold shower," she muttered. But first, she needed to have a word with her boss. 

Ella was behind her desk, but Rayne's indignant charge stumbled to a halt at her expression. The fact that she even had an expression was troubling in itself, but Rayne had never seen her look so…

Broken. 

"Ella?" she said, conspicuously aware that she very rarely addressed her so directly.

"Rayne," Ella replied, her voice hollow. She reached up and tugged at the clasp holding her hair up and it tumbled down in perfect waves, because of course it did. 

"Are you all right?"

"Of course. Was there something you wanted?"

"Yes," Rayne said, suddenly feeling nervous, but unable to stop the words from tumbling out. "I want to know why you told Lady Croft to leave."

"That's personal," Ella snapped. 

"Is it? Because if we're going to be dealing with an assault from Kroenen and his Thule goons, I should think we'd need every asset at our disposal. And I know you, of all people, wouldn't allow something personal to jeopardize that."

"You think you know me so well, do you?"

"Shit, no. But you're obviously not dealing with this very well, and I don't like to see you hurting."

Ella sighed. 

"Your powers of observation extend even to non-humans, I see."

"I want to help. Please."

Ella looked at her.

"Unfortunately, I do not think even you can rebuild a burnt bridge."

"Is it Lady Croft? I can talk to her."

"She told you about us, did she?"

"Well, not details. She said you had history. And I-- I guess I thought…well, you changed. You put your hair up. I thought maybe you still had feelings for her."

"Did she tell you why we had our falling out so many years ago?"

Rayne shook her head. 

"She wanted me to turn her. I refused. And I swore that if she found a way to do it, I would never speak to her again."

"What? Why? I would have thought you'd be happy to get rid of the human part."

Ella's gaze sharpened. 

"And why would you think that?"

"Well I know how you feel about my human side, I just kind of assumed…"

"Again, you think you know me so well. What, pray, do I think of your human side?"

"It's useless," Rayne mumbled. She hung her head. 

"I have never said such a thing," Ella huffed. 

"When you-- when you were telling me to go sleep, you said I was no use to you if I passed out. It's my human side that makes me need sleep. I don't know how else I was supposed to take that."

"Oh, Rayne. I was angry, but that…that was ill said. I apologize. The reason I refused to turn Lara is precisely because it is her humanity that I love. As it is with you."

She heard it, heard what Ella was saying. Or implying. It was about as straightforward as the woman had ever been. But she couldn't process that right now. It was just too much. 

"She thinks you rejected her. She's hurting."

"Better a broken heart than death," Ella replied. 

"What?"

"You saw how she reacted when I told her to go home. How else am I to protect her?"

"I think she can handle herself pretty well," Rayne said, frowning. 

"Against the mundane, certainly. But she is human. She is not like us. Even Sonja has some kind of healing ability beyond the natural. Lara is vulnerable."

"So you claim to love her humanity…but you still see it as a weakness."

"Do not forget your place," Ella snapped, her voice frosty. 

"I know my place," Rayne said, as a clutching ache built in her chest. "It's at the side of the ones I love."

And she turned and walked out of Ella's office, ignoring the tears building up in her eyes. 

Tears that had burned themselves out in smoldering anger by the time she got back to the cafeteria. Still, she paused a moment to scrub at her face with her sleeve before coming back to Sonja and Lara. 

Paused, and just watched them for a moment. 

Sonja was telling a story, her huge hands waving in the air, mimicking some kind of intense battle, likely with a certain red-haired warrior woman as the main heroine. Lady Croft-- no, Lara-- was literally poised on the edge of her seat, rapt in the telling, her fingers flying over her laptop keyboard of their own volition. 

"There's the jock and the prep, guess that makes me the nerd in this stupid eighties movie," she muttered, smiling despite herself. A different kind of ache was building inside her now, a sweet ache, and she clutched her hands to her chest as though she could trap it there forever. 

She tried not to think of Ella sitting alone in her office as Sonja spotted her and called out a booming greeting. 

"Rayne! There you are!" Lara said as she came up to them. "Sonja has been telling me the most marvelous story...oh. You do not look happy."

"Think I might be out of a job," Rayne murmured. 

"That is easily fixed," Sonja said. "Find me a seaport. In my youth I was a fearsome pirate, and there are some things one never forgets. Ah, it will be good to get out on the sea again!"

"Uh…," Rayne said. 

"Do not tell me the seas are gone in your time!" Sonja cried. 

Despite everything, Rayne laughed. 

"No, no. The seas are still there. But piracy, not so much."

"What? Why? That is easily half the fun of a sea voyage."

Rayne shook her head, smirking. Lara laid a hand on her arm. 

"You spoke to her. I can see it in your face."

"Yeah," Rayne said. "It didn't go well. I think she-- I think I was kind of harsh. Listen. Sonja wants to go outside and I need to just…get away from here. Do you want to come with?"

"I'd like nothing better," Lara said, smiling a smile that made warmth trickle all the way down to her toes. 

"Great," Rayne breathed. "Sonja, let's go get some fresh air."

Sonja leaped up, planting her foot on the cafeteria bench and pointing up. 

"To the outside!" she cried. 

"Jesus Christ," Rayne said, shaking her head, but she laughed.


	6. I'm Only Happy When It's Rayne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: feelings ahead

The sun had set but the sky was still light as the three of them clambered out on to the plant's roof. It was warm and breezy and the air smelled of pine and asphalt. Most of the plant workers had gone home already, so the parking lot below was almost empty. 

"Ah," Sonja said. "It feels good to have the wind in my hair again."

She stood silhouetted against the darkening sky, like an ancient warrior goddess, which Rayne supposed she actually was. 

"It's lovely up here," Lara said. "Do you come up here often?"

"Yeah, when I need to think. Me and like half the people who work here. It's nice, though. Like a private break room with a view."

"So, what now?" Lara asked. 

Rayne rubbed her eyes. 

"I don't know. I don't like the way I left things with Ella. I owe her so much, it just feels wrong to walk away from her like that."

Lara stepped up next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. Rayne, feeling suddenly tired, could not help but lean into her a bit. 

"Is this all right?" Lara asked in a low voice. 

"Yes," Rayne replied. She raised her voice a little. 

"Sonja? You okay over there?"

"I am," she replied. Even her usually boisterous voice was muted.

"Sorry we kept you cooped up for so long, I should have thought," Rayne said. Sonja's only response was a heavy intake of breath, like she had been submerged and was coming up for air. 

"Ella thinks she's protecting you," Rayne said to Lara. "She's pushing you away so you'll be out of the line of fire."

"It's endearing. Infuriating, but endearing. I understand it. But she could have said as much."

"Would you have left if she did?"

Lara was silent a long time. 

"No," she admitted. "I can be just as stubborn as her, even if she has a few millenia on me."

"Do you still want her to turn you?"

"I don't know. It's hard for me to see the downside, especially as I'm getting older-- and don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to do it. I wouldn't put you on the spot like that."

"I can't anyway. That wasn't included in the dhampir package. And I wouldn't want that responsibility."

"Is it so bad? After all, you don't have all the vampire banes, do you?"

"No," Rayne said. "But it's lonely. It's hard to watch someone you love slowly grinding to a halt while you're still running on. And you can't go back for them. You just have to keep running and leave them behind."

"That does sound lonely," Lara mused. "And yet…here we are."

"Believe me, I've pushed away just about everyone I ever cared about," Rayne said. 

"But not me?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"I dunno. I guess…there's not much point living forever if you aren't enjoying it? Sonja, what was it you said to me about that whole leapy shouty pointy thing you do."

"Life is short, bloody and cruel," Sonja said, her voice quiet for once. "Why should I not live as grandly as possible?"

"There," Rayne said, gesturing to the Hyrkanian, now barely visible in the gathering gloom. "What she said. Except for the bit about it being short. For me, anyway. Why, why am I still talking."

Lara chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. 

"Would you go back to her? If none of this was happening?" Rayne asked. 

"Yes. I think I would. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear."

"No, it's fine. Truly. As long as you both were happy, I'd be happy."

"Ha!" Sonja barked, startling a yelp out of Rayne. "Your eyes are like a cat's!"

"Damn it, woman," Rayne groused, "I about jumped out my skin."

"Oh!" Lara said. "They are!"

Night had fallen, and while the lights from the parking lot below them kept it from being pitch black, it was still quite dark up on the roof. Rayne could still see; anything not picking up the faint glow of the lights was in greys, but still visible to her enhanced senses. 

According to Ella, unlike full vampires, her dhampir eyes had something similar to the tapetum lucidum, though rather than a membrane, it was more like her rods were polarized. The upshot was that in low light, her eyes sometimes bounced back a reflection. As they were apparently doing now, given that both Sonja and Lara were peering into them like a couple of curious children. 

"Personal space," she murmured. 

Lara backed off, and bodily hauled Sonja away.

"Oh," she said. "Your muscles are like rocks. Can you flex for me, please?"

Rayne grinned in the darkness, listening to Lara try to explain what "flex" meant, and her sounds of delight when she succeeded. She was perpetually curious, and surprisingly not jaded at all, considering the life she'd led. 

Rayne wondered if that was why Ella had fallen for her. She was just so excited about everything, it was impossible to feel world-weary around her. Rayne certainly found it attractive. Being around someone who was always finding joy in the world around her could make even the longest of immortal lives bearable. 

How difficult, then, it must have been for Ella to push her away. 

Rayne sighed. That kiss had lit a fire in her and she really, really, wanted to pursue that to wherever it led. But it felt wrong and somehow selfish, like she was taking advantage of their pain. 

She had to get them back together. Lara had said she wanted it, and Rayne knew Ella did too, even if Ella herself didn't. She needed a plan and she needed something to distract Lara while she figured it out. Learning about Hyrkania would keep her occupied, but Sonja's attention span was considerably shorter. 

"Hey Lara, quick question. Do you know how to sword fight?"

"I helped found my local chapter of HEMA."

"No idea what that means but I'm gonna call it a yes."

"A witch who wields a sword? This I must see!" Sonja said. 

It took a considerable effort of will for Rayne not to rub her hands together and cackle. 

"I'm not exactly dressed for it," Lara said as they left the roof and made their way back down into the plant. "I mean I can lose the blazer but these slacks are all business."

"Nor can I spar in these leather breeches," Sonja agreed. 

"Maybe I can find you some shor--"

"We shall clash as nature made us!" Sonja bellowed. 

"No!" Rayne cried. "No naked sword fighting!"

"Well, you're no fun," Lara teased. 

"Look, as much as I'd love to see you both naked, we're not doing that. Stay here while I go find the key to the sword cupboard, or whatever it's called."

She made to leave, but both Lara and Sonja were staring at her with amused expressions. 

"What now?"

"You want to see us naked?" Lara said, unable to keep the mirth out of her voice. 

"Jesus Christ, are you kidding me? Have you seen yourselves? The two of you are like walking sex fantasies come to li-- oh, for fuck's sake. I should not have said that out loud. Sonja, pull your shirt back down. Listen to me, both of you. I need to go do something, and I need you both out of my hair for a bit. Okay? Can you keep each other amused for an hour without breaking anything or stabbing anyone?"

"No," Sonja said cheerfully.

"Yes," Lara replied. 

Grumbling, Rayne left the two of them shadowboxing while she went to hunt down the spare key for the cabinet. She found it after hunting around in the security office for a bit, then returned to the gymnasium. 

"Rayne!" Sonja called upon seeing her. "Your witch is a marvel! She knows many fighting styles! I have never before met one who knows both how to brawl and how to work magic. She is formidable indeed!"

"That's...yeah. Okay. I know I'm probably going to regret asking this, but where are your pants?"

"I hurled them yon," Sonja said airily, pointing toward the folded bleachers. 

Rayne looked where she pointed. Sure enough, a wadded ball of pants was sticking out from under the rail. Atop the rail was a pair of neatly folded business slacks. Which meant--

"There you are," Lara said cheerfully from behind her. "Any luck with the key?"

Closing her eyes, she held out her hand and let the locker key dangle from her fingers.

"Brilliant," Lara said. She felt the key leave her hand and heard the soft padding of Lara's bare feet. 

Unable to help herself, she opened one eye.

Lara was indeed pantsless. Rayne opened her other eye, then squinched up her face. Much to her surprise, Lara was also wearing boxer briefs. Rayne had assumed the woman walked around in expensive Italian lingerie all day. She had said she valued comfort, but Rayne had been willing to bet that a woman of her taste and wealth had a very different idea of comfort than most people. 

Not that she was any less appealing in practical clothes. Hell, she could make one of Rayne's old hoodies look attractive. 

She watched as Lara opened the cupboard and pulled out the training swords. Like Sonja, she gave hers a few practice swings to gauge the weight and get a feel for the weapon. She settled into a sort of fencing stance, her right foot facing forward and her left back and perpendicular to the other. Even Sonja was watching her with appreciation. 

"Ki-ya!" she suddenly screamed, starling a yelp out of Rayne, and leaped toward Sonja, her blade swooping in at a cross-body angle. Sonja bellowed a laugh and met steel with steel. 

Whatever Rayne had been planning to do left her mind as she watched the battle. It was a battle indeed; unlike Ella, Lara wove around Sonja like a snake, poised to strike when she saw an opportunity. Sonja did not give her many of those. It was plain even after only watching her fight twice that she was born to the sword. It was an extension of her arm, moving fluidly and with a deadly grace. 

But it was also plain that Lara was giving her a workout. What the smaller woman lacked in power and innate ability, she made up for with speed, reflexes, and a keen eye. 

"I'll be damned," Rayne murmured. "They're almost evenly matched."

Almost. 

Something caught Lara's attention and she froze. Sonja's blade struck hers with the full force of her massive arm and densely muscled frame behind it; the blade jerked out of Lara's grip, crashing to the floor and spinning across the polished wood, where it came to a stop under a heeled boot.

Three pairs of eyes roved from the boot up to an impassive porcelain face. 

Ella. 

Her expression was unreadable. She still had on the leather jacket and leggings, but her hair was no longer down. She had gathered it in a loose tail, and strands hung around her face. 

Rayne realized she was staring at Lara. Lara was staring back. While Ella was statue still, Lara was fidgeting. 

Rayne ducked under their gazes like there was a physical barrier and grabbed Sonja's arm. 

"We should go somewhere else," she whispered. 

"Aye," Sonja said, and followed her out of the gym. They made it back to the cafeteria before Rayne realized that her companion still had the practice sword and no pants on.

All she could do was laugh. 

"It is good to hear mirth in your voice, keth'ri," Sonja said. 

"Hey, uh, about that…keth'ri…thing, how long does that last?"

Sonja shrugged. 

"Sometimes a keth'ri is but a momentary bond, until the debt has been repaid. For others it is a lifetime. Should you wish to be rid of me before then, you can release me, though such an act would bring me shame. Sonja always repays her debts."

"What would you have to do to repay it?"

"Save your life."

"And if you did that, then you'd…go?"

"Fain would I return to my own time, Rayne. But who knows if that is even possible?"

Rayne raked her fingers through her short, messy hair. 

"It would be nice if we could get you home. But-- I'd miss you."

"And I, you. The path that led me to your side was an ill one indeed, but I would walk it again."

Rayne rubbed the back of her neck.

"Uh," she said. 

"Speaking of your feelings ties your tongue?"

"Yeah. Never been very good at it."

"Indeed. Whenever Lady Lara is around you are a hot mess."

"Shit, is it obvious? I was hoping it just seemed like I was broodi-- wait, did you just call me a hot mess? Was that the translator or is that a thing in Hyrkanian?"

Sonja shrugged. 

Rayne dug the heel of her hand into her eye.

"I am a hot mess, though. My brain turns to mush around her. If I open my mouth I'll just babble like an idiot. She's so fucking smart and pretty and just…good at stuff…gah."

She heaved a sigh. 

"Well, hopefully she and Ella will get things sorted out so I don't have to worry about it any more."

"That will solve things for them, not for you. You will still be in love with her," Sonja said. 

"You think you're so smart, but which one of us still has pants on, huh? Speaking of that, she must have impressed you at least a little. I noticed you're not calling her 'the witch' any more."

"Aye, so she has. Never have I desired to bed a sorceress before."

"Sonja," Rayne said

"What? She seemed amenable to the idea."

"Wait, you asked her to sleep with you?"

"Sleep was not what I had in mind."

"That's not…you can't just…and she said yes?"

Sonja shrugged again. 

"I would have asked you long hence but for your obvious disgust."

"Wh--," Rayne said. "Me? You? My what?"

"You ill desired to touch me when I was wounded. You avert your eyes when I bare any part of my flesh. You cry out whenever I mention any sort of interest in pleasure. Tell me that is not disgust."

"It's not! It's nothing to do with you. You're…you're amazing."

"Then why do you look away from me?"

"I don't know."

"I do."

"Okay, Miss Smarty No-pants, enlighten me. Why am I such a 'hot mess', since you know what that means?" Rayne demanded. 

"Aye, I see it now. You do not think yourself worthy of love."

"You don't know me," Rayne said, feeling an unexpected surge of anger. 

"Mayhap not. Have you told the vampiress how you feel about her?"

"Ella? What? What has that got to do with anything?"

"Does she know that you love her?"

Rayne anger gave way to confusion. 

"What?"

"I do not know you, you say," Sonja went on. "Truth, though I cannot tell day from night in this place, it has not been more than two of same since I awoke on the table, and no more since you pulled me from the tank. And yet even I, a mere 'barbarian' from your past, can see how you change when she walks in the room."

Rayne just stared at her helplessly, some sort of feeling churning around inside her that she could not name.

"You stand taller. Your face takes on an expression of fierce resolve and adoration. You move to position yourself so you are between her and anything that might be a threat…as you did when I woke on the table and tried to break free of my bindings. Ah, and when we crossed blades, I did not miss the pride and admiration in your eyes as she faced me." 

"That doesn't mean--," Rayne began in a strangled voice.

"That you love her? How can it mean anything else?"

Rayne staggered over to a cafeteria table and sat down heavily on the bench. She dropped her head into her hands, feeling oddly defeated. 

"Fuck," she mumbled. "Fuck me sideways. Shit. Goddamn fuck."

"Rayne," Sonja said. 

"You're right. Fucking hell. You're right. I'm so screwed."

The bench creaked alarmingly as Sonja's weight settled on it.

"Why do you fret?"

"I don't know what to do. I hate having feelings."

Sonja chuckled, sliding her arm around Rayne's shoulders. 

"As to those, what of Lady Lara?"

"I don't know. I'm really fucking confused right now. Lara is…she's amazing. Beautiful, smart, funny, gorgeous. What's not to love? And I feel like-- maybe she was into me too? But then Ella. They have history. You saw how they were looking at her before we left, yeah? We might as well not have been there."

"And me?"

Rayne was quiet for a while, trying to think of how to say what was going on inside her. She leaned into Sonja's side. 

"It's funny," she said. "It has only been a few days, hasn't it? But, and I know this is going to sound cheesy, I feel like I've known you forever. You obviously get me pretty well. Maybe even better than I do. And even though you're frustrating as hell sometimes, it's a…kind of like…a good frustration, like you would feel towards a really happy but really dumb dog."

Sonja snorted.

"I know it's selfish of me but I don't want you to go back," Rayne admitted. 

"Mayhap we could find a way for you to come with me."

Rayne rubbed her temples. 

"That would mean leaving Ella and Lara behind."

Sonja was quiet for a moment. 

"I could not ask that of you, no matter how much my own selfishness demands it," she said at last. 

"What about you, huh? What are your feelings? You seem ready to hop into bed with pretty much anyone," Rayne asked, hoping to turn the conversation down a lighter path. 

"I am far from home in time as well as, most likely, in place. There are many things here I do not understand. Yet some things remain unchanged. Wheresoever beautiful women exist, Sonja stands happy, and ready to slake her lusts at a moment's notice!"

Rayne chuckled. 

"You are refreshingly simple sometimes," she murmured. 

"It serves me well," Sonja replied. 

"You…uh…you said you were going to, uh...ask me?"

"This surprises you? I have been very clear about finding you attractive."

"You've been very clear about finding specific body parts attractive," Rayne corrected.

"I am no bard, to compose flowery sonnets about the beauty of your eyes. Call it my refreshing simplicity, if it pleases you."

"I just find it hard to believe that next to Ella and Lara…"

"The vampiress has beauty like that of a finely wrought blade: cold and deadly, but pleasing to the eye. Lady Lara has the beauty of blooms in a well-tended garden. You? You are as a tigress: bloody-jawed after a hunt; defending her cubs from circling jackals; or just lying in the tall grass, sun dappling her glossy flanks."

"That was pretty bard-like," Rayne murmured. She felt very warm, suddenly. 

"Tis how I see you," Sonja replied. "It is not kohl-lined eyes or painted lips or breast-baring dresses that make a woman beautiful. These things do not even enhance beauty. They merely draw the eye to the beauty that is already there. I have been called ugly, for my scars, my bulk, my hair. And yet, I have no trouble wooing, even if my competition holds wealth, power, and renown. And it is so because I speak truth to the beauty I see."

"You are something else," Rayne said, chuckling. 

"Aye, I am indeed," Sonja agreed.


	7. What's Mined Is Ours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Need' is from Mercedes Lackey's "Oathbound" (Valdemar) series. It only has a cameo in this chapter, but if I pursue it further, I'll add it to the fandom tags.

Rayne was startled awake by a shuddering boom that rocked through the plant. She was up on her feet in an instant, aware that she had somehow dozed off in the crook of Sonja's arm. 

The red-haired Hyrkanian was also on her feet, the practice sword in her hand. 

Rayne spotted someone in a security uniform jogging across the cafeteria and called out to her. It was the woman she'd met in the barracks room. 

"Hey," Rayne said as the woman came over. "Do you remember me?"

"Of course, ma'am. I'd be a poor security guard if I didn't know the 2IC."

"What's your name?"

"Vasquez, ma'am. Like in 'Aliens'."

"Oh, I love that movie," Rayne said. "Do you-- no, never mind. Later. What's going on?"

"Are you asking me for the sitrep, ma'am?"

"Yes," Rayne said. Vasquez waited, a slight smirk tugging at her lip.

"Do I have to say it?" Rayne complained. 

"It IS protocol, ma'am."

"Ugh. Fine. Please give me the 'sitrep', Vasquez."

Vasquez flashed her a quick grin, but the quickly got back to business. 

"Twelve to fifteen armed assailants broke through the outer perimeter and are attempting to breach the plant. That boom you heard earlier was one of our claymore mines going off."

"Oh!" Rayne said. "Those were my idea."

"Yes ma'am," Vasquez grinned. 

"How did they get past the perimeter?"

"Unknown, though they're not registering on the IR cameras."

"Shit. Okay. Thank you, Vasquez. I don't want to keep you."

"Technically, ma'am, I am supposed to ensure the safety of the high ranking officers of this facility. I can come with you, if you want."

Rayne glanced over her shoulder. Vasquez followed her eyes to see Sonja looming. 

"Or not," she added, a hint of appreciation in her voice. 

"As you were, Vasquez," Rayne said. "Oh, one more thing: do you know where the Ace of Hearts is?"

"Last I heard she was in the Batcave."

"Thank you," Rayne said. Vasquez gave her a short, choppy salute and jogged off. 

"The Ace of Hearts?" Sonja asked. 

"Ella's codename," Rayne explained, already moving down the corridor to her suite. 

"You chose that, did you?" 

Rayne smacked her palm against her forehead. 

"Christ," she said. "I'm the worst."

She shoved the door to the suite open, to be greeted by both Ella and Lara. Lara was definitely flustered, and looked somewhat disheveled. Ella looked her usual perfect self, or would have to anyone but Rayne; her hair was down but in disarray and her lipstick was slightly smudged. 

Rayne clued in just as Sonja apparently did. 

"Ha!" Sonja cried. "You have been--"

"We're under attack," Rayne shouted. 

"We heard the mine go off," Ella said archly. "What's going on?"

"Are you asking me for the sitrep--," Rayne began, but her voice trailed off at Ella's withering glare. 

A lightly accented woman's voice came over the PA system. 

"All non-security personnel please evacuate to the bunker on Level Six. Repeat: all non-security personnel please evacuate to the bunker on Level Six."

"Fifteen attackers, not showing up on IR," Rayne said once the announcement finished. 

"Come with me," Ella said, and turned back toward her office.

Once the four of them were inside and the door was closed, Ella spoke. 

"Intrusion Protocol Two, password zero nine zero nine one five."

Rayne blinked. It was her birth date. 

The hum of small but powerful motors sounded, and the flatscreen television rose up the wall on hidden rails to reveal an illuminated compartment behind it. 

Lara let out a low whistle. 

It was a weapons cache, which in itself was fairly impressive, but what drew Rayne's eye was something she recognized: her old bladed tonfas, mounted with care on padded hooks. 

"You kept them," she murmured. 

"Are those mine?" Lara asked, pointing to a pair of heavy-looking automatic pistols. 

"Yes, yes, we can discuss my embarassing sentimentality when we're not under attack, please and thank you," Ella snapped. 

She stepped up to the compartment and lifted down an un-ornamented and very serviceable-looking sword. Much to Rayne's surprise, she held it out for Sonja to take. 

"I have had this sword my whole life. It is not of this world. Upon this blade is a geas that compels the wielder to come to the aid of any woman in need. 'Need' it is called, and need it shall serve. Use it well."

Sonja took the blade, hefting it. She looked up at Ella. 

"I am honored," she said, and Ella smiled at her. 

Something passed between them. Rayne wasn't sure what, but she had the feeling she was witnessing something momentous. 

For some reason it occurred to her just then that in a manner of speaking, Sonja was much older than Ella. True, she hadn't lived through that entire time as Ella had, but her time was ancient history compared to that of the vampiress. She wondered if Ella had found that threatening…or if it gave them a sort of kinship. 

She hoped it was the latter. 

She burrowed out of her hoodie and tossed it over the back of the chair. Stepping forward, she lifted her blades out of the compartment. Taking the hilts was like clasping the hand of an old friend. 

She hated that feeling. It was like getting back together with an ex that you knew was toxic. She looked up at Ella, and was surprised to see a familiar knowing sadness in her eyes. 

The last time Rayne had held the blades, she'd had them at Ella's throat, ready to decapitate what she thought was just another bloodsucker. But she'd seen that same knowing sadness, and hesitated. She had known, in her gut like always, that Ella was not a monster. 

Why had Ella kept them? 

Rayne might have thought that she'd been biding her time for the right moment to turn her back into a killer, if she hadn't spent so much time after they'd met breaking her out of it. The Brimstone society had fashioned Rayne into a weapon; Ella had reforged her into something else. 

Sentimental, she'd called it. 

Had she kept them as a memento of the moment she and Rayne had met?

She glanced over at Lara, who was staring at her. 

"What?"

"Nothing," Lara replied, shaking her head. 

"Methinks Lady Lara is smitten," Sonja chuckled. 

"Well LOOK at her," Lara protested. 

"Indeed," Sonja said. "She cuts a fine figure."

Rayne looked helplessly at Ella, who shrugged. 

"They're not wrong."

"Can we focus please," Rayne said. "We are under attack, in case you've all forgotten while you're busy ogling my bare shoulders or whatever."

"They are quite lovely shoulders," Lara said. 

"Seriously?"

Lara shrugged, grinning.

"Rayne is right, of course," Ella said. "While I have the utmost faith in our security team, I have no desire to leave them in the wind while we hide in the basement."

"Agreed," Lara said, and was echoed by Sonja. 

"Do you know Vasquez?" Rayne said. 

"Of course," Ella replied. "I picked the teams myself. Vasquez is a Marine, and has worked for military contractors and private security firms. She also happens to make excellent mondongo."

"She's the team leader?"

"Captain," Ella corrected. 

"Captain, right. Okay. We saw her before coming here."

Ella strode over to her desk and pressed a button on a console. 

"Blackbird, this is Batcave. Sitrep, please. Over."

"Oh sure, when she says it, it sounds cool," Rayne grumbled. 

"Batcave, this is Blackbird. We've engaged a few of the intruders but we lost about half of them. They're inside the facility. Repeat: they are inside the facility. Over."

"Copy, Blackbird. Do you require reinforcements? Over."

"Negative, Batcave. We're just mopping up, and then we'll go after the others. How are things on your end? Over."

"We're armed, Blackbird. Any idea where the rest were headed? Maybe we can meet you in the middle. Over."

"Pretty sure they're heading for the sub-levels, Batcave. They seem to know their way around. Over."

"Thank you, Blackbird. Over and out."

She released the button. 

"That is troubling," she said. "Our staff is vetted very carefully. I refused to believe this is an inside job. That leaves only a very few possible culprits, being those who are in some wise familiar with BPRD field offices. Rayne, it seems I owe you an apology."

"Huh?"

"I suspect that our old friend Karl Ruprecht Kroenen has sent us a calling card."

Rayne's knuckles whitened on the grips of her blades. 

"If I see that Nazi motherfucker I'm gonna feed him his own guts."

Ella rested a hand on Rayne's shoulder.

"I would like nothing more," she said in a low voice, "but please keep your anger on a leash. I find it highly unlikely that he is here himself. This is…exploratory. A test."

She let her hand drop as Rayne sucked in a deep breath. 

"I would like you to take Lara and rendezvous with Vasquez. It is my belief that the intruders will have separated into squads upon entering the facility, each with a different target. It is a common tactic, designed to keep the enemy scattered and off balance. Sonja, if you would come with me, I am going to go down to Level Six and ensure that the bunker is secure. Our people are first priority."

Rayne blew out her breath and nodded. Much as she would have rather gone with Ella down to the bunker, being surrounded by humans would make sure that Rayne was less likely to lose control of her bloodlust. It was a sound plan. 

She turned to Sonja. 

"Are you okay with this? It's not your fight."

"Any fight I can be a part of is my fight!" Sonja said, grinning. 

"You're terrifying, you know that? But in a good way. Take care of yourself, all right? Uh. Keth'ri."

Sonja swept her up in a rib-bruising hug, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were both holding sharp steel weapons. 

"All the hosts of Hell could not keep me from your side," Sonja said. 

Rayne tried to stretch up, failed, attempted a hop, failed again. 

"God damn it, why are you so tall? Could you lean down a little please."

Sonja obliged, and Rayne (still having to stretch up), kissed her. It was a quick, almost shy kiss. 

"For luck, or something. I don't know," she mumbled. 

"Nay, not luck! Skill! Come, vampiress," she said, turning to Ella, "let us see if we can find these rats and shorten their tails!"

"I have a name," she heard Ella complain as they went off down the hall. 

Rayne looked at Lara, who had a somewhat sheepish expression on her face. It made Rayne laugh.

"Well, that's nice," Lara protested. 

"You should have seen your faces though," Rayne said. 

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"What's that shade of lipstick you're wearing, by the way?" Rayne asked. 

Lara touched her lips absently. 

"I'm not wearing any-- oh."

"Yeah you are," Rayne grinned. 

"Must you?"

"Oh, I must. I really must. But maybe later. Let's go find Vasquez."


	8. Rayne In Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter ends kind of brutally. I'm sorry. Vampires is vampires.

They found Vasquez and two other guards standing over a couple of bodies dressed in tactical gear.

"What's going on, Vasquez?"

"Sorry, ma'am?"

"Really?"

"Just following protocol, ma'am."

Rayne sighed. 

"What's the sitrep, Vasquez?"

The guard flashed her a grin, but got down to business right away. 

"No insignia or badges. No ID of any kind. We ran fingerprints, no priors in any database we have access to. They're ghosts. Not literal ghosts, of course. Literal ghosts don't wear kevlar vests."

"At this point nothing would surprise me. Did you check the inside of their lower lips?"

"Ma'am?" Vasquez looked at her dubiously.

"The GegenGeist Gruppe sometimes tattooed their experiments there with their project codes."

"Ma'am," Vasquez said slowly, "are you messing with me? Is this about the sitrep thing? I'll stop, I didn't mean any--,"

She broke off as Rayne pulled down her lower lip. She didn't need to see it to remember what was there: V4M9-05-989. 

Vasquez and Lara looked at each other. 

"I'm still going to make you do the checking," Rayne said, "and that is definitely about the sitrep thing."

Vasquez looked at her for a moment. There was no pity in her eyes, only a sort of understanding. Rayne remembered that Ella had said she was a vet. 

"Yes ma'am," Vasquez said, and gave her a nod. She bent over the nearest body and stuck her thankfully gloved fingers in the mouth, pulling the lip back. 

The tattoo was there.

Rayne bent down to read it. 

CLX2-66-001.

"I've seen a lot of the GGG's files. And the Thule Society's. Never seen that code. Which means, probably, that there are new projects. And that means those Nazi fucks are back on their bullshit."

"Kroenen?" Vasquez asked. 

"You know about him?"

"I've read the files. Like to avoid surprises."

"I can see why Ella hired you," Rayne said. 

"Thank you, ma'am."

Their comms crackled. 

"Blackbird, this is Ace of Hearts, over."

"Go ahead, Ace," Vasquez said. 

"Are Rayne and Lady Croft with you? Over."

Vasquez cut the comm off. 

"You guys don't have code names?"

"Yeah, I do," Rayne said. "It's 'Trash Goblin'. She refuses to use it."

"If I have one, I don't know what it is," Lara said. 

"Heartbreaker," Rayne blurted, regretting it immediately. 

Lara frowned. 

"Well I'm not sure if I should be flattered or cross," she said. 

Vasquez snorted, and thumbed the comm back on.

"Affirmative, Ace. Trash Goblin and Heartbreaker are with me. Over," she said, making a show of utterly ignoring Rayne's frantic hand waving. 

"Vasquez!" Rayne hissed. 

"Just following protocol, ma'am," Vasquez replied, trying and failing to look innocent. 

No response. Rayne groaned. 

"I am so dead. Vasquez, I'm going to find out what your favorite pudding is, and when it's that day in the cafeteria, I'm going to take them *all*, and you won't get *any*."

"You vamps really are soulless monsters," Vasquez said dryly. 

"*All* the pudding, Vasquez. *All* of it."

Vasquez opened her mouth to reply, then closed it, and blinked rapidly a few times. She activated the comm again. 

"Ace, come back, over."

She looked at Rayne meaningfully. 

No response. 

"Ace of Hearts, this is Blackbird, come back, over."

"Ella can hold a grudge for eternity, but even she isn't that petty," Lara said. "Something's wrong."

"Go," Vasquez said. "I'll be right behind you after I round up the rest of the squads."

Rayne and Lara spun and ran down the hallway.

"Do you know where she is?" Lara asked as they sprinted around the corner.

"We'll check the bunker first. If she's not there I might be able to sniff her out."

"Do you mean that literally, or--,"

"Yeah," Rayne said. "I'm not as good at it as a full vamp, so it's hard. We go right, here."

They finally arrived at the service elevator to the sub-levels. It was still on the sixth floor. Rayne jabbed the call button viciously. 

"She'll be all right," Lara said quietly. It was difficult to tell if she was trying to comfort Rayne or assure herself. 

"She's older than hell and twice as nasty," Rayne said. "It'll take more than some low rent zombie soldiers to take her down."

"You care about her a great deal," Lara said. The elevator arrived with a ding that was obviously made by a little metal hammer hitting a bell and not something electronic. They stepped in to the wide steel box, lined with padded sheets, and Rayne pushed the button for the sixth floor. 

"I love her," Rayne said. She was surprised at how good it felt to just say it out loud. 

"Ah," Lara said, her voice distant. 

"Not like that," Rayne replied. "Not in like a got busted making out, her lipstick smeared all over my face kind of way."

"You're not going to let that go, are you."

"Look on the bright side. I'm only half vampire. So I'll only hold on to it for half an eternity."

"Lovely. And you're not upset with me?"

"No, Christ no. Lady Cr-- Lara. She means a lot to me. But so do you. And I've seen the way you two look at each other. No way am I getting in between that."

"A Rayne sandwich," Lara murmured. 

"What?"

"Nothing," Lara said. "Is this thing even moving?"

Rayne looked up. She closed her eyes, feeling. 

"No," she said, looking at Lara.

"Could they have cut the power?"

"Not to this thing. It runs on a generator."

They looked up at the light above the door. It still said G, for ground floor. 

"We're stuck," Rayne said, huffing angrily. 

"Oh dear. Trapped in an elevator with an attractive lady vampire," Lara said wryly. "Whatever shall I do?"

"Will you be serious," Rayne protested. 

"Yes, I'm sorry. I forgot myself."

"Thank you."

"Trapped in an elevator with an attractive lady *dhampir*," Lara said. "Whatever shall I do?"

"Very funny."

Despite the situation, Rayne found that she rather liked having Lady Croft's cultured accent telling her she was attractive. Still…probably best to derail that train of thought. 

"I dunno, you could get out and push."

"Now who's being funny?" Lara said. 

Rayne sighed and rubbed her eyes, then fished out her comm. 

"Blackbird, this is Trash Goblin, over."

"…ra...obl…ackbir…ver."

"Crap," Rayne said. "The elevator must be interfering with the signal."

"So what do we do? Is there another way down to the sub-levels?"

"Yeah, but we have to get out of here first."

"There should be an access panel or hatch somewhere," Lara said. "Most elevators have them, even industrial ones."

Rayne glanced down. 

"You mean like this one that says "Emergency Access Hatch, do not open while elevator is in motion"?

"Something like that, yes," Lara said with a smirk. 

Rayne reached down and pulled the recessed handle, heaving the weighty hatch aside with an echoing boom. 

"That's a long way down," Lara said. "I'm a fairly good climber, but it will take ages to get down there."

"I was thinking more slide than climb," Rayne said. 

"The friction would flay the skin off you…well, perhaps not you. It certainly would me. Perhaps I should wait here."

"You can hold on to me," Rayne said without thinking. 

"That sounds like fun."

"You're not making this any easier," Rayne complained. 

Lara looked taken aback. 

"My apologies," she said. "I misunderstood."

"Look, let's just get out of here," Rayne said. "I'm going to climb down to the cable. We're not both going to fit through the hatch, so do you think you can make it over to there on your own once I go through?"

Lara pressed herself to the floor of the elevator, poking her head through the hatch. She pushed herself to her feet once she was satisfied and brushed herself off. 

"I've done worse with less, though never without safety gear."

"You don't have to do this," Rayne told her. 

"What, and miss the chance to slide down a mine shaft in the arms of a-- a friend?"

Rayne looked at her. Lara was hiding it well, but she was hurt. That was confusing. She wanted to be with Ella, and Rayne had told her that she didn't want to get in the way, but it was obvious now that Lara had been flirting, and was stung by Rayne's rebuff. It made no sense.

She just had to focus on getting them down the shaft and figuring out what had happened to Ella and Sonja. Then she could find a nice cave to hide in for a million years. 

She rubbed her temples. 

"Okay," she said. "Let's do this."

She lay on the floor, bracing her arms on the sides of the opening and pulling forward until she could bend down and reach the metal rungs that would normally hold the safety carabiners of the elevator techs. She grabbed on and let her legs drop through the hole until she was dangling from the bottom of the elevator. Then she swung hand over hand to the back wall of the shaft where the recess that housed the cables was located. 

The steel cable was thick enough that she couldn't get her fingers around it. She hooked her right arm and leg around it instead, and looked back to where the hatch was. She saw Lara's head poking through the opening, her ponytail hanging straight down like an exclamation point. 

"Can you make it over here?"

"I believe so," Lara called back. Their voices echoed oddly down the shaft. 

Lara's head disappeared for a moment, and then she executed the same maneuver Rayne had, only looking much cooler and more graceful. Wh n she got close enough Rayne leaned forward and caught her around the waist, pulling her in. 

I did not think this through, she thought. 

Lara's presence was intoxicating. Her body pressed close, the smell of her-- Rayne had never been to England, but she imagined that it was exactly how the English countryside would smell: wildflowers and grass and dark soil after a rain. And under it all, the sound Rayne could not un-hear: the beating of her heart, the whispered song of her blood. She closed her eyes. 

"Are you all right?" Lara murmured, her breath warm against Rayne's neck. Only her dhampir's will allowed her not to shiver.

"Yes," she lied.

"As pleasant as this is, aren't we meant to be moving."

"Right, of course. Hang on tight."

I did not think that through either, Rayne thought as Lara wrapped around her. 

"Uh, I've never done this before, so I'm not really sure how this is going to go," she said. 

"There's only one way to find out," Lara said. She sounded breathless and her heartbeat had kicked up a few notches. 

"You really are an adrenaline junkie, huh," Rayne said, and eased off her grip on the cable. They slid down roughly at the speed of a Galapagos tortoise.

"Guilty," Lara said. "Can we go faster?"

"Didn't you say something about flaying? I'm tough, but not that tough."

Lara's palpable excitement was making her weak,so she eased up her grip a little more until they were moving at a decent clip. The smell of burning cloth wafted by her. 

RIP hoodie, she thought. But to feel Lara's breath hitching and her squeeze tightening was mostly worth it. 

Before she knew it, the floor of the shaft was rushing up to meet them, and she clamped down hard on the cable. Fabric parted, and she felt steel against her skin. It felt like holding a red hot poker in the crook of her arm and she gritted her teeth until her feet met the ground. Lara let go and she staggered, dropping to one knee.

"Rayne?"

"Fine, I'm fine," she said. 

"Your arm. Oh, my fault. I wanted you to go faster. Rayne, I am so sorry."

Rayne winced as she examined the tattered, blackened sleeve of her hoodie. 

"I'll heal," she said. "It was fun, right?"

"Not at that cost!"

"Like I said, I'll heal. Look, there's a perfectly normal door. Let's get the fuck out of here."

The door led to a service room full of climbing harnesses, safety helmets, cables, and power tools. Another door on the opposite side led to a brick-walled tunnel lit with bare bulbs, only every third of which was lit. 

"Do you know how to get to the bunker from here?" Lara asked. 

"I think so. I just need to orient myself from the front of the elevator...which was facing that way. We go right. I think. No, I'm sure. Mostly."

"That is not reassuring."

"It'll be fine," Rayne said. 

"Fine like your arm?"

"Not everyone gets the chance to live their childhood dream of sliding down an elevator shaft with a sexy librarian in their arms. It was worth a little pain."

"Sexy librarian?" Lara asked, incredulous. 

"Listen, not all of us were brought up down the street from Shakespeare's house, okay? I'm trying my best, here."

"Fair enough, but sexy librarian? Sexy professor, that, I could see."

"You have your fantasy, I have mine. Wait." 

She froze. Voices. 

"Someone's coming."

She flipped the catches on the harnesses that held her tonfas on the backs of her forearms, the curved hilts dropping into her hands. She hated how comfortable their weight felt. Lara had her pistols out already. 

There were no halls or doors along the brick tunnel, so there wasn't much point in stealth. She walked toward the voices, which suddenly stopped as their owners heard her footsteps. Whoever they were, they were hiding in a dark well between the illuminated bulbs, which was…tactical. 

She broke into a run. 

"Rayne!" Lara hissed behind her. 

She passed though a circle of light, heard the crack of a pistol, felt the smack of a bullet hitting her shoulder. But the pain was far away, and her vision was filling with red. 

The first intruder she came upon had night vision goggles on his shaved head. He brought his hand up, trying to get a bead on her with his pistol. Too slow. She hacked it off at the wrist. He didn't have time to scream before she was on him, her weight bearing him to the ground. Her fangs punched out, and she bit into his throat, yanking her head back and taking most of it with her. Blood splashed on her face, in her mouth, filling her veins with fire. 

More gunshots. They drew her like a lure. She clambered up the wall like a spider, launching herself sideways into the next gunman. Her tonfas scissored into his neck, grating on his spine. More blood. 

More blood. 

Her gut ached for it, with a need stronger than any lust. 

A third gunman appeared, and he pumped two rounds into her chest. The third hit her face, smashing her cheekbone. She howled with rage and pain. Lashing out, she caught his head in her hand and bashed it into the brick wall with all her vampiric strength. He crumpled to the floor and lay still. 

No more movement. No more threats. She pounced on her last kill, ripping at him with her teeth, drinking her fill. 

A noise, down the hall. Her head whipped up and she crawled forward, stalking. 

But then: eyes wide with horror. Trembling hands, each holding a pistol. Trying not to aim them at her. 

Lara. 

"Oh, gods, Rayne," Lara said. Fear in her voice. 

Rayne turned and bolted. Stumbled on corpses. Slipped in blood. She had to run. Run away. Run. 

Run until she found a hole. Run and hide. Hide until it all went away. 

She hit a wall. Pain. Nowhere left to go. She slumped against it, sliding down until she was curled up on the floor, as tears made tracks through the blood on her face.


	9. Confessions of a Justified Sinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: nudity lol

They found her almost two days later, nearly catatonic, in a stairwell. 

She heard them talking, but it was far away. Underwater. Words she could almost make out, but they were blurry and sideways. Faces drifted in and disappeared. 

And then: Her.

"Rayne."

That voice. Refined. Cultured. So incredibly ancient. A voice that spoke across eons, heavy with knowledge and sorrow. 

"Come back to me, Rayne."

She did not want to. She wanted to hide, stay hidden, crawl into a hole. She did not want to see terrified eyes and wide mouths screaming. 

"Rayne. Come."

She did not want to. But she felt the compulsion lashing around her, like silken whips. She wanted to fight it, rip it away, bite it with her fangs until it bled. But it numbed her. Where it touched, she went limp. And it dragged her, unwilling but unresisting, back into the painful light. 

"I'm here," Ella said.

Two simple words with the weight of centuries behind them. She was there. She was always there, had always been there. Rayne reached out to her. Strong arms lifted her up, cradling her, wrapping her in safety. 

Rayne tucked her face into the hollow of Ella's throat, the only person vampire, half, or not, who had done so in nearly three hundred years. 

"Sonja, will you attend? She will need all of us."

"Aye, I will. For my keth'ri, anything."

Rayne felt her nod. The soft skin of her throat was icy cold, but comforting nonetheless. 

As Ella carried her, she spoke. 

"You lost control, Rayne. It's all right. No one was hurt who did not deserve it. It's all right. I am here. Sonja is here. You're safe."

They stopped moving. Rayne's sensitive ears heard dripping, hollow echoes. Ella's suite. 

"Help me get her undressed," Ella said. 

Hands on her. Strong hands, gentle hands. Pulling away her clothes, rusty with blood. Peeling them away like dead skin. She felt relief when they were gone. 

Hands guiding her forward. A step up, another. Warm water up to her knees. 

"Sit," Ella said. The compulsion was still on her. She sat. Blood flaked away from her skin and she watched it float on the surface before dissolving into swirls of red. 

Ella said nothing. She used a soft cloth to wipe Rayne's face, wringing it out in the water. And again. Then she scrubbed. Not gently. Dug the cloth into her ears. Wiped her nose. 

"You lost control," she said again. 

Rayne hung her head. 

"I'm sorry," she whispered. 

Ella stood, dropping the cloth into the water with a wet slap. 

"You should be," she said. Her voice was colder than a Siberian winter. Rayne listened to her heels on the floor as she walked away. But she had no more tears to cry, and there was nothing left inside but an aching emptiness. 

And then a hand, broad and warm and callused, came to rest on her back between her shoulders. Bright red hair trailed in the water as Sonja rested her chin on the edge of the tub. She smelled like outside, like forest and wood smoke and dark earth and rain.

"Keth'ri," she said in a quiet, rumbling voice, "I do not know what it is like to be dhampyr. But well I know the feeling of bloodlust when it grips the soul. And after, when there is nothing but a gaping maw."

"How--," Rayne began, but her voice was rusty from disuse. She licked her lips. 

"How do you deal with it?"

Sonja pondered for a moment. She kept her hand on Rayne's back, solid and warm. Rayne wished she could melt into it, swirl away like blood drops in water. 

"For a time I tried to fill the maw," Sonja said. "Ale, lust, brawling. But I learned that those are mere veils, and throwing them over the maw neither hides it nor makes it go away. Even time but blunts its teeth."

"So how do you make it go away?"

"Fill your heart."

Rayne turned to look into her stormy eyes. 

"It's that easy, is it?"

Sonja shrugged. 

"It can be, if you let it."

"I don't know how. I can't even tell the people I love that I love them."

"Because you feel that you do not deserve it," Sonja said. "But know this, my keth'ri, my Rayne: you deserve it. Mayhap more than some."

"Did you see what I did?"

"Aye. Twas like a savage beast tore through those men." 

"That's not really helpful," Rayne complained. 

"But it is the truth. And do you blame the beast? Do you scorn the tiger when she slaughters to feed her cubs, or the wolf who does so to protect her pack?"

"No. But I'm not a beast. I'm a rational person. Most of the time. I'm supposed to be better than that."

"Pah. We should not be ashamed of our beastly side. We should revel in it, let it bring us closer to the beauty of nature."

"Most people in my time don't feel that way."

"Aye, I noticed. But you are not 'most people', keth'ri."

Rayne sighed. The bath had grown cold and her legs were cramping. 

"Where's Lara?" she asked. 

"Lady Lara returned to her own lands after the attack. She was troubled, and fought with the vampiress."

"What about?" 

"I know not. They fought outside of the room where you were resting. And my attention was elsewhere."

"Do I want to know?"

Sonja chuckled. 

"I did not leave your side until the healers assured me that you would be all right. They had to be convinced to let me stay, but no one says no to Sonja's fist."

"Oh no, did you hurt anyone?"

"Not permanently."

"Sonja."

"What? They are healers. They can heal each other."

"No. Not that. Just…thank you. For being here. You're all I have left."

Sonja grunted. 

"I need to get out of this bath," Rayne said. 

"I will go," Sonja said, standing. Her warm comforting hand left Rayne's back and she felt as though all the warmth in her body left with it. 

"You don't have to."

She stood. Water rained from her body into the tub. 

"You've already seen the worst of me," she said. "Might as well get it all out in the open."

It was a strange sensation. Rayne was so used to hiding everything from everyone, even those close to her, even the ones she loved, that to stand there naked felt almost like her heart was outside her body, performing its secret duties for all to see. And yet she knew, without even a glimmer of doubt, that Sonja would not judge her or find her wanting. 

Sonja took one look at her, nodded, and started unbuttoning her pants. 

"What-- what are you doing?" Rayne asked. 

Pants and underwear hit the floor. Sonja pulled her shirt off over her head and tossed it behind her. The sports bra gave her trouble, so she ripped it in half and dropped on the floor. 

"Now we are equal," Sonja said. "For each to see as the gods made us."

It was such a Sonja gesture that Rayne had to laugh, which was unfortunate, because the sound covered the clacking of heels on stone. Rayne's laugh stuttered to a choking cough as she saw Ella striding up to them. She sat, abruptly, in the water, splashing it outside the tub and unable to suppress a small shriek as she had forgotten how cold it had been. 

"Am I interrupting something?" Ella asked archly. 

"Yes," Sonja said. 

"Clearly. Rayne, get out of the bath and get dressed. We need to talk."

Rayne had forgotten about the compulsion Ella had laid on her, and found herself jerkily heaving out of the tub and padding over to the heated towel rack to dry herself off. Clothes had been laid out, because of course they had, and she dressed, surprised to find a new and very comfortable hoodie at the bottom of the pile. 

Sonja was, naturally, still naked. 

"You can get dressed now too," Rayne mumbled. 

"If I must," Sonja said. 

Once she was clothed (she left the shredded bra on the floor, which made Ella's eye twitch, but she wisely decided to fight that battle later), they sat on comfortable chairs in front of the massive fireplace. Or rather, Rayne and Sonja sat; Ella paced. 

Finally she stopped. Her hands fell to her sides and she stared off at a point on the wall somewhere between them. Rayne felt foolishly like a child about to be scolded. 

"I am sorry," Ella said. 

Rayne's mouth fell open in shock. 

"What--,"

"I do not like repeating myself," Ella snapped. "But I treated you ill, and that was wrong of me."

Finally she turned to Rayne. Her face was as impassive as always, but Rayne could see the storm in her eyes. 

"I was angry. But not with you. With myself. I failed you. I put you in danger. I put Lara in danger. And I lashed out at you, my dearest Rayne, the one who least deserved it."

"Oh god, are you dying?" Rayne blurted. 

"What? No, of course not. I was merely sharing my-- oh. Yes, I see now. I am not very good at this."

"No, it's…it's fine," Rayne said.

Ella sighed and folded her arms. 

"Since Lara came back, I have…not been myself. Things have resurfaced that I thought I had buried. It has made me…weak."

"No," Rayne said. "Love doesn't make you weak. It makes you human."

"I am not human," Ella said. 

"Human enough," Rayne replied, and the echo sent a shiver down her spine. 

"I am not sure how I feel about that," Ella said. 

"I am," Rayne told her, and stood. This was the moment. She knew there was no going back. Things were about to change, maybe not for the good, but Rayne did not want to hide any more. 

"I love you," she said. 

Ella was so startled she actually took a step back. Her eyes were wide. 

"Rayne," she began, but Rayne cut her off. 

"No, I gotta say this. I'm sorry. I know you don't need this right now, and I know you don't feel the same way about me. I know where your heart is. It's in England right now, I'm guessing. Shit," she fumbled, and raked her fingers through her hair. She looked over at Sonja, but couldn't read her expression. 

"Ella. No...that's not who you are, really. I know you don't like the name but I need-- it's just important. I don't know why. It just is. I need to say it. Vampirella. I love you. I've loved you for years. I'm…I'm sorry," she finished lamely. 

"Sorry?" Ella burst out. "You're sorry?"

"I--,"

"You don't get to be sorry," Ella growled. 

Rayne felt a chill in her gut. She knew things would change, but she hadn't expected this. 

"You-- after all this time-- now, of all the--,"

The chill in her gut was spreading. Never before had she seen Ella in such a disjointed, unraveled state. It was terrifying. 

Ella lunged at her, gripping her shoulders. Sonja was on her feet immediately, but a glare from the vampiress froze her in her tracks. The compulsion was so strong Rayne could practically see it, and Ella hadn't said a word. 

She turned back to Rayne, and her eyes were black. 

"Ella," she said, her voice barely a squeak. 

"Do you know me, child? Half-breed? Do you know what I am?"

"Yes? I mean I think I know you pretty well?"

"No," Ella hissed. She shook Rayne so hard her teeth clacked together.

And then she slumped. Her grip slackened, and the blackness fade from her eyes. She looked…defeated. Broken. Somehow that was more terrifying than her unchained emotion. 

"You don't know me," Ella said. "Perhaps that is my fault."

"No, that's--" 

"Be quiet," Ella said. The compulsion snapped Rayne's mouth shut. 

"You know me 'pretty well', you say," she went on, "and yes, you know me better than just about anyone I have met and been with in all my years. But you do not know how that frightens me. You cannot understand my fear at being so close to someone. Anyone. I have built myself a fortress, and you…you just came along and demanded a key. And I gave it to you, because how could I not? And you-- you put that key in your pocket and carried on. What was I supposed to do? I gave you ingress into my soul and you made yourself at home."

"I think she means 'I love you too,'" Sonja chucked.

Ella glared at her. 

"What? You did not command ME to be silent."

Ella turned back to Rayne. 

"I have a feeling I am going to regret this, but you may speak."

"I'm an idiot," Rayne burst out. 

"That was not what I was expecting," Ella said with an arched brow.

"Why didn't you send me away?" Rayne asked. 

"What? Why on earth would I do that? Did you not hear anything I just said?"

"She thinks herself unworthy," Sonja said. "She feels that her love is a burden, that it is unwanted. She does not understand that it is a gift."

"'She' is standing right here," Rayne groused. 

Ella looked at her. 

"Sonja is correct, though, is she not?"

"I hate it when she does that."

"Rayne. Ah, my dearest. How many ways have I failed you?"

"You haven't failed me. You…you fixed me. I was broken when you found me, and you fixed me. That was when I knew."

"You see?" Sonja said to Ella. "Simple words. Much more effective."

Ella released her compulsion and Sonja staggered slightly. It had to have been incredibly strong, and she'd done it with a glance. Rayne felt a slight wave of nausea. 

"So this is where we are," Ella said, looking back at Rayne. "Everything out in the light. You know how I feel about that."

A joke, and a vampire joke at that. Rayne wondered what she had unleashed. 

"And it is plain to me, at least, how you feel about Sonja. I have…well let us say I have grown used to her presence. Like a large, friendly dog."

"That is not the first time I have been compared to the hounds of your time. They must be mighty indeed!"

"They are," Ella said, deadpan.

Rayne looked at Sonja. 

"I'm confused as fuck," she admitted. 

"I am not," Ella said. "Your heart is…overflowing. It is what first attracted me to you. Why I took you in and tried to help you, in my own perhaps somewhat misguided fashion."

"Fill your heart," Rayne murmured, still looking at Sonja, who nodded. 

"So, uh…what now?" Rayne asked.

"I suggest a hearty round or two of lovemaking, and then a feast," Sonja offered. Both Rayne and Ella stared at her. She just shrugged, grinning. 

But Ella's face when she turned back to Rayne was somber. 

"Now there is just Lara."

"Is she-- is she all right?" Rayne asked. 

"I am…uncertain. She was shaken by something she witnessed in the tunnel. I asked her to stay, for you. But she could not. There were harsh words."

"It was me," Rayne whispered. "She saw me. I think she thought I was going to-- going to kill her."

Ella's brow furrowed.

"This is exactly the sort of thing I had hoped to shield her from. We are vampires. Our nature is one of violence. I did not want her to see-- I was afraid she would react exactly like this. I did not want to lose her. She knew what I was, but I could not bear to let her see…all of me."

Rayne thought back to her moment with Sonja, getting out of the tub. Even as sure as she had felt, there was still fear. And if she had been unsure?

"I understand that," Rayne said. "Should I-- should we--,"

"No," Ella said. "I think I have pushed enough. We must let her have time, and peace. We must hope she finds it in her heart to understand. But we must also accept that she may not, ever. I hate this."

There was agony in those last three words, hidden under her perpetually cool and even voice. Agony, and ageless sorrow. Rayne had never wanted to hug her more than at that moment. 

"Perhaps I should talk to her," Sonja offered. The look on Ella's face was strangely soft. 

"Thank you," she said. "But I think it's best to let her be, for now."

"My suggestion is still on the table," Sonja said. 

"I think we could all use some," Ella murmured.

Rayne looked at her in shock. Ella blinked, and then realized what she'd said. 

"Lunch," she said firmly. "We could all use some lunch."

Sonja sprang to her feet.

"To the feasting hall!"

Ella rolled her eyes, and Rayne laughed. 

(to be continued…)


	10. Interlude: In The Croft Manner

_darkness, full of teeth and burning eyes_

Lara jolted awake, heart pounding, eyes darting, seeking an escape. 

Deep breaths, deep breaths. 

Everything around her seemed small, plastic, unreal. Her tea had gone cold. 

She huffed out a breath, slumping in her chair. Her hand came up, hovered over the keyboard of her laptop.

She let it fall. Tried to focus on the screen. Rayne's dossier. A picture of her in a tatty sweatshirt, looking lost.

"Why is this bothering me so much?"

"Bad dream again?"

Lara looked across the worktable at her research assistant. Red hair, thick-framed glasses, a black t-shirt with a jumble of jagged shapes that Lara assumed was the name of one of the godawful bands she listened to (mercifully, with headphones) while she worked. 

"Mm," she said. 

"Can I get you anything? Another tea?"

"I'm fine, Jemma, thank you. I'm just tired."

The red hair reminded her of Rayne. She pushed the thought aside. Work usually helped when she had things she didn't want to think about, but she couldn't focus on anything, and kept nodding off. 

And then the bad dreams would come. 

Rayne. Sweet, befuddled, hapless Rayne. Lara knew what she was. It wasn't a secret. But nothing, nothing could have prepared her for the red-eyed, bloody, shrieking thing that had come at her in the tunnel. 

Her mind simply refused to join the two together. 

"Begging your pardon, Miss Croft, but it's plain that something is bothering you. Can I help? It's what you pay me for, after all."

'Miss Croft'. She wanted to smile at that. Lara had insisted the girl drop her title, but with typical North Anglian stubbornness, she had refused to let go of at least a modicum of formality. 

"I got a bit of a scare, that's all."

Jemma, who had been taking a sip of her own tea at the moment, choked on it, spilling it down herself. 

"It goes in the other tube," Lara quipped. 

"Sorry, bollocks, I'm a mess," Jemma babbled, swabbing at herself with a handful of napkins from the previous evening's takeaway.

Lara sat up in her chair and passed over a few more from her side of the worktable.

"Oh cheers. It's just...I can't imagine you scared. At all. Of anything. Remember the bog witch? I fairly piddled myself. But you were all," and here she lifted her shoulders and put on a deep, ridiculous impression of Lara, "I've shat worse things than you after breakfast."

"I did not say that!" Lara protested. 

"Paraphrasing, obviously."

Lara leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands. 

"Have you ever been in love?"

"Oh, constantly," Jemma replied, stuffing the napkins in a bin next to her desk and leaning forward to peer at her screen. "It's my biggest character flaw."

"What would you do if you found out something, about someone you cared for, that terrified you?"

"Wot like, an icebox full of severed heads?"

"That is oddly specific, but yes," Lara said. 

"I don't do well with terrifying things, I'm sure you've noticed," Jemma said. "I tend to run away from danger. Something you might consider giving a try, I might add, instead of running towards it with a bouquet of flowers."

Lara smirked at her, but her mood turned somber again.

"What if it was something they couldn't help? A vampire, for instance."

Jemma went pale. 

"Oh, bollocks. You've seen my fanfic, haven't you?"

Lara chuckled. 

"No, but I am definitely going to look for it now."

Jemma winced, slapping herself in the forehead. Then she stopped and stared across the worktable at her boss. 

"Wait. You met a vampire? Like an honest to goodness bloodsucker?"

"Yes. Well, one and a half, actually."

Jemma goggled at her. 

"How did you meet point five vampires?"

"That's your most pressing question?"

Jemma shrugged. 

"I've seen a lot of really weird stuff since I started working for you," she said. "My baseline for normal is a bit skewed."

"Fair enough. She was half human. A dhampir."

"Begging your pardon, Miss Croft, but I've seen you fist fight a Nile crocodile. I can't see how a girl with pointy bits who doesn't like wine would scare you."

 _red eyes burning in a mask of blood_

Lara rubbed at her brow. 

"It was only a little crocodile," she murmured. 

"Three meters isn't a little _anything_ ," Jemma protested. 

"It is for _Crocodylus niloticus_ ," Lara said. She sighed. "I'm changing the subject."

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, of course," Jemma replied. 

"Of course."

"What was she like?"

"Hmm?"

"The, uh, your dhampir friend. I've read that they haven't any bones."

"Well that's not true at all," Lara said. "I'm quite sure she had the full complement."

"It would make dating rather awkward," Jemma said, typing rapidly. 

"You're not writing fanfic right now, are you?"

Jemma's hands froze on the keys.

"No?"

"Right. I'll take that tea now, if you please." 

Jemma clicked on some things with her mouse rather hurriedly before standing up to head over to the workshop's small kitchen. She came back a moment later to snag Lara's cup. The sound of her bustling about making tea was comforting. 

"She was a bit like you, actually," Lara said. 

"A blazing rubbish fire then," Jemma replied. 

"No. Well. Yes? In her words. Her code name was Trash Goblin."

"Brilliant," Jemma said. "I like her already. Wait, she had a code name? I'd like a code name."

"You've got one picked out already, haven't you?"

"Sexy Witch. I mean no."

Lara raised a brow.

"What?" Jemma protested. "I can dream."

"Anyway," Lara went on, "she did remind me of you a little. Very casual, very comfortable, didn't much care what people thought of how she dressed."

"Oi," Jemma said, "I'll have you know this is my nicest Crypt of the Tyrants shirt."

"Indeed."

"Sorry, go on. You were attracted to her because she reminded you of me, what next?"

Lara stared at her. 

"What?"

"Would you remind repeating what you just said?"

"Sorry, go on?"

"The next bit."

"You were attracted to her because-- oh. Shite," Jemma groaned, covering her face with her hands.

Lara bit back a grin. 

"Did you know your ears turn red when you're embarrassed?" she teased. 

"I am well aware," Jemma said into her hands. 

"She definitely had your charm."

Jemma peeked out between her fingers. 

"You think I'm charming? Oh-- that was a joke."

"Not at all," Lara said. "I find you quite charming."

"Oh. You do? Oh. Really. Really? That's, um. Well. It's better than "lady, get out of my store, you're frightening the children."

"Again, suspiciously specific."

"You were telling me about the girl you met," Jemma said hurriedly, letting her hands drop to her sides.

Lara tipped her head back and sighed. 

"I'm not ashamed to admit I was utterly smitten with her. But there was an old flame involved, and things got complicated."

"Ella?"

Lara lifted her head and regarded Jemma with suspicion. 

"You've mentioned that name before, that's all. Usually with a sort of wistfulness, like she was someone you missed. I didn't want to pry," Jemma said. 

"You're my research assistant. I pay you to pry."

"Well, yes, all right, but not into you, obviously."

"You didn't want to know who you were working for?"

"To be honest, I was a bit starstruck. Everyone at uni knew who you were. You're a bit of a celebrity. But then I got to know you, a bit, I think."

"The shine wore off, did it?"

"Yes. I mean no, not really, I still pinch myself every morning to make sure this isn't all just an amazing dream. But you're not just a face, that's all I mean. You're a genuine, nice, excellent paying person."

Lara sighed. 

"I don't think I acted like a nice person. I saw a part of her that scared me, and I ran."

"That is certainly not like you," Jemma said, setting the cup of tea in front of her. "See my previous comment re: danger, you, running toward."

"Yes. That's part of the reason I'm so cross with myself. I don't know why I ran."

"And I'm guessing Ella being there didn't help matters."

"It did not," Lara admitted. "I'd thought that was over, but seeing her again brought a lot of things back."

Jemma sat back down at her station, blowing on her tea. 

"I'm probably the worst person to talk to about relationships," she said. "I once head-butted a girl in the face that I was trying to shag."

Lara blinked.

"I am definitely going to need to hear THAT story," she said. 

"Not important right now," Jemma said, flushing slightly. "I'm not good with relationships except for one: I am intimately acquainted with fear. When I worked for the Templars, I saw things that made me pee myself."

"That's a chronic condition, from the sounds of it."

"Fear," Jemma pushed on doggedly, "will freeze you in place. You can't go forward. The only way to get past it is to keep jabbing that 'A' button until you can move again."

"Beg pardon?"

"Video game reference. What I'm trying to say is that you have to push through it. Like a boss battle. You just have to keep spamming your main attack until it's done."

"My what?"

"Seriously, have you never played a video game, ever?"

"No. I don't watch telly either."

"What do you even do with your life? Uh. Wait. You just told me you've met actual vampires. Never mind. Your life IS a video game."

"So are you suggesting that I...fight her?"

"What? No! Fight your FEAR. Put your worst enemy's face on it and punch it in the teeth."

Lara pondered that for a moment. 

"That is actually quite good advice. I'll try that. I just need to figure out what to do about the nightmares."

'In my experience, once you fight that fear, the nightmares tend to go away."

"Thank you, Jemma. You've been very helpful. Did you find anything on the sword?"

"Not a jot."

"She did say it was 'not of this world'," Lara mused. 

"Not of this-- oh. Oh! Was the blade all glowy?" Jemma asked, her eyes bright with excitement. 

"It wasn't a lightsaber, Jemma."

"Oh, bollocks. Wait. You know what a lightsaber is?"

"I said I don't watch telly. I go to movies sometimes, you know."

"Oh, sure, of course, in between fighting Colombian drug cartels and finding the lost city of Atlantis, you just pop round the theater for a matinee of Rogue One."

"If I'm being honest, that kind of full sensory overload in a dark room is about the only way I can relax," Lara said. 

"You have got to let me teach you how to play video games. Please."

"All right, I'll give it a go."

"Really? You mean it? This is all my girlhood fantasies come to life!"

"Your girlhood fantasy was playing video games?"

"Well, I mean. With the world's most beauti-- er, most famous archaeologist."

Lara sat up. 

"Jemma, do I strike you as a sexy librarian?"

"Wot."

"Don't think about it, just give me your gut reaction."

"Er, I would say more 'sexy professor'."

"THANK you. That's been bothering me."

"There's nothing wrong with librarians," Jemma protested. 

"No, of course not. It's just a matter of aesthetic. I've got a few more things I need you to look into for me, please. I've sent you a text with the details. I've got a plane to catch."

"Righto, boss lady."

Lara pushed to her feet and turned to leave the workshop, but paused and turned back. 

"Would you like to come with me?"

"Pardon?"

"Come with me back to America. You can meet some real live vampires."

"Do you mean it?"

"Absolutely. I know you can handle yourself. Mr Sonnac spoke very highly of you."

"Was he drunk?"

"What?"

"Nothing. I'd love to come!" She stood up, picked up her backpack, and tucked her laptop under her arm.

"Don't you need to pack?"

"I've a change of clothes," she said, shrugging the backpack strap toward her. "Sometimes I'm in here for days."

"Jemma, you needn't."

"It's more want than need, Miss Croft."

"You're a woman after my own heart. Let's go."


End file.
